The Delhi Government on Sunday clarified that the supply of GPS/GPRS integrated fare meters, which is one of the conditions for procuring auto-rickshaw permits, was not restricted to one vendor and the equipment could be obtained from any empanelled vendor.
Issuing a press statement on the issue, Delhi Transport Department Commissioner R. Chandramohan said that the department had notified permit conditions for the grant of new 45,000 permits as per the directions of the Supreme Court and one of the conditions was that the new auto-rickshaw should have a GPS/GPRS enabled integrated fare meter for real time tracking of the auto-rickshaw and the fare meter transactions. But, Mr. Chandramohan added, some auto union leaders with vested interests were making baseless allegations against the Transport Department saying that the supply of such meters was restricted to one vendor alone and that too at a high price.
Mr. Chandramohan clarified that the applicants were free to approach any empanelled vendor and procure the equipment at the price quoted by the vendor. He added that the Transport Department exercised no control over the pricing and any vendor with requisite approvals could supply the meters. So far only one agency has obtained the required clearances and more vendors were awaiting the certification of the fare meters, he said.
The Transport Department has even offered to pay Rs.75,000 empanelment cost to encourage young entrepreneurs.
The Supreme Court had imposed a cap of 55,000 auto-rickshaw permits two decades ago, but authorised the grant of 45,000 more permits on a prayer made by the Delhi Government last year in view of the introduction of the CNG as fuel and decennial growth of city’s population.
