In Kancheepuram too, share autorickshaws continue to ply with more passengers than permitted despite checks by the police and transport departments.
Drivers and operators of autorickshaws have been warned of stern action after a recent accident involving a group of school students. They sustained injuries after the autorickshaw in which they were travelling from Kalakattur to Kancheepuram town overturned near Kuruvimalai.
Some autorickshaw drivers, operating between Kalakattur and Kancheepuram and from Iyengarkulam to Kancheepuram, said they had remodelled their vehicles to accommodate six persons in areas where town bus services were not frequent.
A diesel autorickshaw driver said “We have no choice but to operate share autorickshaws such as the ‘Vikram’-brand three-wheelers in violation of permit conditions to make ends meet.”
Similar violations are also rampant among operators of petrol/LPG autorickshaws and seven-seater mini-vans. While petrol / LPG autorickshaws are often overloaded with school students, the seven-seater mini-vans are operated as ‘share autorickshaws’ even though their permit conditions stipulates that they should be operated as cabs.
The mini-vans have to be operated as point-to-point tourist contract carriages and not as share autorickshaws, according to a transport official.
