Even as a majority of the autorickshaws in the city continued to ply without fare meters, major autorickshaw drivers’ unions have got a breather from the recent notification making fare meters mandatory for the vehicles in the city.
Consequent to a recent order of the State government extending the revised meter fares fixed for Chennai to the rest of Tamil Nadu, the district administration had notified that autorickshaws should fix the meters before December 5. As per the government order, the minimum fare (for the first 1.8 km) for autos will be Rs. 25 and Rs. 12 for every additional kilometre. However, most autorickshaws ply without the meters even after the expiry of the deadline and some of the unions have called for an agitation on Tuesday.
District Collector Jayashree Muralidharan, police and transport officials held a meeting with the representatives of autorickshaw unions to discuss the drivers’ demands here on Monday. The officials impressed upon the unions to ensure that all autorickshaws fix the meters immediately as per the recent government order.
However, the unions sought more time to ensure compliance and urged the authorities to defer action against autorickshaws which had not fixed meters so far.
Though autorickshaw unions have been seeking two months time to fix the meters, they were asked by the authorities to ensure compliance within a week, informed sources said.
Consequent to the meeting, the CITU announced that the proposed agitation has been deferred.
The union held a meeting with auto drivers near the Collector’s Office on Tuesday. R.Raja, district secretary, CITU, said that the unions continued to insist that the fares should be revised according to local conditions as Tiruchi cannot be equated with a metropolitan city such as Chennai. The minimum fare should be fixed at Rs.30 and Rs.15 for every additional kilometre, Mr.Raja said.
However, a section of the autorickshaw drivers affiliated to the Makkal Kalai Ilakkiya Kazhagam were arrested by the police after they resorted to a demonstration near the Central Bus Stand demanding supply of meters free of cost to them. Police said 107 drivers were held.
