For the last one week, passengers travelling from Secunderabad railway station were left at the mercy of auto-rickshaw drivers. Many faced difficulties as the prepaid auto-rickshaw stand became dysfunctional with the contractor shutting shop.
“As there is no one to monitor, the auto-rickshaw drivers hoard around passengers. They rarely go by the meter and demand even more if at all they agree to go. It’s terrible to be stranded with luggage when the auto-rickshaw driver acts pricey,” sighed A. Pushkar, a student from the city, who had a hard time finding an auto-rickshaw to reach home.
Another traveller, Vishal S. lamented that though there is a rate card for the drivers to follow, they never do so.
With all the pre-paid counters shut at the railway station, passengers are now fervently hoping that things would restore soon, as lack of a prepaid meter means that auto-rickshaw drivers demand more, particularly after seeing some heavy luggage.
“Though the charges were high (minimum Rs. 40, and Rs. 11 per km henceforth), at least it was uniform,” said Preethi Reddy, a private employee.
Auto-rickshaw drivers at the stand also seemed to be in the dark about the sudden closure. “The contractor just took away the computer and other paraphernalia without prior notice. No one knows what happened,” said Venkat, an auto-rickshaw union leader at the railway station. The prepaid stand, which started a few years ago, is manned by traffic cops. When contacted, L.S. Chauhan, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said the contractor running the prepaid stand dropped out as he was not making profits. “We asked him to pay the dues to the department and leave. So he cleared the amount,” mentioned Mr. Chauhan and added that traffic police officials at the stand ensued that the auto drivers follow the rate card and not cheat passengers.
New tenders to
be called
The non-functioning of the prepaid auto-rickshaw stand sticks out like a sore thumb for not only the Traffic Police Department, but also the Road Transport Authority and railway officials. Just a few weeks ago, officials announced that they chalked out a plan to start three more prepaid stands at Begumpet, Kachiguda and Nampally railway stations.
But now the challenge for authorities concerned is to open the Secunderabad counter. Officials said that the service can function only after calling for new tenders and when another contractor resumes work.
