The city police are examining the possibilities of having a ‘Share Auto’ system in the city, on the lines of shared autorickshaws in metros like Hyderabad and Mumbai.
City Police Commissioner P. Vijayan, addressing a Janamaitri meeting here on Saturday, said the police was actively considering the idea and about how to convince the public and auto-rickshaw operators of the benefits of such a system.
Talking to The Hindu later, Mr. Vijayan said the sharing system was already on in parts of the city, but in an informal way.
Role of police
The possibilities of introducing the system in a formal way and the role police could play in it was being examined, he said. The system could reduce transport woes apart from addressing safety concerns for women.
Earlier, Mr. Vijayan, replying to a complaint raised by a resident association over contaminated fish being sold in some of the city’s markets, said the police would join hands with Food Safety officials and the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to conduct inspections to check adulteration and contamination of fish, meat, vegetables and fruits.
Pointing out that the complaints over decayed fish being sold in some markets were genuine, the City Police chief also asked Food Safety officials to examine how this could be verified before punitive action was initiated.
Stray dog menace
Mr. Vijayan, who asked residents’ associations to join the police in its efforts to create awareness on the importance of wearing helmets, also asked Corporation officials to think how the increasing stray dog menace across the city could be tackled.
The meeting, attended by officials of various departments, police officials from all city police stations and residents’ association representatives, saw almost every association complaining about overflowing drainages and also on the lack of maintenance of street lights. A KSEB official said the maintenance of street lights had been entrusted with the local body, the Corporation in this case, and that it was expected to be addressed in a week’s time.
Encroachments
Encroachment of footpaths, obtrusive flex boards, irregular police patrols, and illegal parking were among the complaints that echoed, literally, from all the residents’ associations. KSRTC Inspector V. Shashidharan asked the associations to call the RTC Control Room on 94470-71021 for complaints of buses not stopping at scheduled stops or other service-related complaints. DCP (L&O) A. Srinivas also spoke.
