In an attempt to monitor all hired vehicles and cabs operating in their jurisdiction from security point of view, the Cyberabad police on Friday released the first batch of coded stickers for such vehicles. The mandatory sticker system to cabs and all vehicles ‘on hire’ plying on Cyberabad roads was introduced through a notification on February 10. The measure was initiated after realising the difficulties in tracing a cab driver and his associate, who sexually assaulted an IT professional after she approached their cab, eight months ago.
“The rape apart, we found that cab drivers were operating in an unsafe manner and without documents,” Cyberabad Police Commissioner C.V. Anand said at a press conference releasing the first batch of stickers to some vehicles. Some of them misbehaved with passengers while others collected excess fares fleecing passengers. A few of them allegedly aided unlawful activities.
By driving rashly and parking haphazardly, drivers of such vehicles were also resulting in accidents and nuisances. To rein in them, it was made mandatory that all “cabs, taxis, vehicles on hire and other vehicles of this category’’ should register themselves with the Cyberabad traffic police following procedures specified in the notification.
After verifying the documents, the police would issue a Quick Response (QR) coded sticker which should be pasted on the front and rear windscreens of the vehicle, the Commissioner said. The sticker is valid for a year. There were about 10,000 such vehicles in Cyberabad and nearly 2,000 of them already registered with the traffic police.
The Commissioner also formally inaugurated a four-wheeler and five bikes donated by SLN Terminus MD S.P. Reddy in the memory of his late father S.L.N. Reddy, a former police officer. These vehicles would be used for patrolling IT corridor and adjacent areas in Cyberabad.
