Ibrahim, a resident of Talapady, is happy to see the prepaid autorickshaw counter reopened at Mangaluru Junction.
Several times, Ibrahim, who regularly visits Karwar for medical treatment, had to walk 500 metres to get a bus to the city after refusing to ply in the autorickshaw owing to exorbitant fare.
“I am now happy the prepaid autorickshaw counter has began working after a long time,” Mr. Ibrahim said, while being dismayed that the facility was presently open only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
“Many trains come after 7 p.m. Officials should make the facility available round-the-clock,” he said.
An association of autorickshaw drivers began operating the prepaid autorickshaw counter on July 15, 2015.
It had to stop operations after 18 days as the Railways did not provide power supply citing non-payment of security deposit of ₹15,000.
The association said that they needed police help to bring order among autorickshaw drivers, who were allegedly acting rudely with customers.
After several rounds of deliberations, a group of autorickshaw drivers, led by Ganesh, came forward to run the prepaid counters at Mangaluru Central and Mangaluru Junction since July 31, 2017.
Only in daytime
As there no electricity, the counter at the Mangaluru Junction is functional between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. “We can provide service 24 hours if proper arrangements are made,” said Mr. Ganesh.
Two persons sit at the counter and manually issue receipts mentioning the autorickshaw fare after collecting service charge of ₹2. A traffic police constable is posted near the counter.
The fare charged by the autorickshaws is the one fixed by the Regional Transport Authority. This fare chart has been maintained by the service provider in a notebook.
“We are yet to get permission from Railways to install fare chart outside the counter,” Mr. Ganesh said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Hanumantharaya said he would ensure that the fare chart was installed in the next few days. He would speak with Deputy Commissioner and get power supply to the counter.
