Unauthorised parking of autorickshaws on several arterial roads in the city is hampering traffic movement significantly.
Even as civic officials are trying to improve the situation through a series of measures, the careless attitude of autorickshaw drivers is leaving officials and people fuming. The traffic woes are compounded during weekends and holidays when shoppers throng the markets on Besant Road, M.G. Road and Gandhinagar when auto drivers stop their vehicles on the main road for passengers.
Though the police officials asked them not to obstruct traffic on the busy roads, several drivers continue to violate rules and cause traffic jams. Traffic police officials say drivers stop or park their autos wherever they want to for picking up or dropping passengers. They also resort to criss-crossing and negligent driving as they find their vehicles small enough to be easily manoeuvred.
For instance, the ever-busy road in front of Raghavaiah Park on Bandar Road always teems with shoppers crossing over to the Besant Road in droves. On seeing them, auto drivers stop their vehicles on the main road hoping the passengers would hire their service. “The problem is rampant at Benz Circle, NTR Circle, Patamata etc,” complains a motorcyclist K. Krishnamurthy.
Transport Department officials say that action is taken against the auto drivers for violating the norms. “In coordination with the traffic police, we have collected compounding fee from the violators,” Deputy Transport Commissioner Ch. Sivalingaiah says. Police records reveal that of the 8,600 autorickshaw drivers, a majority are operating their vehicles in blatant violation of norms.
Auto drivers, however, maintain that passengers won’t hire their service until they approach them on the main road. “Competition among us is leading to this problem,” adds an auto driver Saleem.
