On January 12, in drives across the city, police personnel in civvies seized 34 autorickshaws for refusal to ply or demanding excess fare. In the week preceding that, 75 drivers at Bengaluru City Railway station were booked on similar charges while 17 more were booked at Hebbal.
Based on complaints by commuters and “information” received, the traffic police have been cracking down on “errant” autorickshaw drivers. In 2014, more than 35,000 cases were booked. In 2013, 38,776 were booked while the number was upwards of 44,000 in 2012.
However, the question is if these drives have had any impact.
“In the areas where we have cracked down, we have heard there is an improvement. But issues still continue where the police have not acted,” said B. Dayananda, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic).
Commuters, who spoke to The Hindu , are yet to see the results. The traffic police helpline sees an average of 20 complaints against autorickshaw drivers daily.
“The attitude of autorickshaw drivers, particularly in the central business district, has not improved despite the crackdown,” said Nishitha Gowda (20), a student. With daily haggling getting to her, she prefers taxis, which ends up costing the same for long distances.
Other complaints from commuters range from “not returning change” to “inappropriate talk with women”.
For autorickshaw drivers, the crackdowns amounted to harassment, which resulted in 12 unions staging a protest recently.
Though admitting that a “few” errant drivers had sullied the public image of the community, M. Manjunath, President, Adarsha Auto and Taxi Drivers Union, believed the police action was excessive. “In many cases, police come in civvies and ask autorickshaw drivers to quote a price for the distance. When the driver does, they accuse him of not abiding to the meter… Most autorickshaw drivers are under the burden of loans. These penalties are making it worse,” he said.
