Notwithstanding the State government order on revised autorickshaw and taxi fares, autorickshaw operators in the Corporation continue to be a dejected lot as their longstanding demand for fixing city limits remains unaddressed.
The CITU-affiliated Autorickshaw Drivers Association is all set to launch fresh protests on the issue. M.B. Syamanthabhadran, district secretary of the Association, said that the issue will come up at a district meeting to be held on Friday.
“The District Collector has not taken any step for fixing city limits despite the Chief Minister giving specific directions to that affect. Our demand is that the city limit should be fixed to around 5 kilometres,” he said.
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Faced with repeated demands to that effect by autorickshaw drivers, the city police are about to submit a report calling for concerted efforts to look into the legal and other aspects of fixing city limits.
“Police alone cannot take a decision on such a matter as it needs the involvement of the District Collector and the Mayor.
The matter is also likely to be discussed at the next meeting of the road safety authority,” said. K.S. Baby Vinod, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Traffic West.
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P.S. Chandradas, district president, BMS, said that it would not be feasible for autorickshaw operators to collect the meter charge alone for one way trips in the entire corporation limit, which is spread over a vast area, since return trips are unlikely.
“A 5-kilometre radius should be fixed for city limits and for one way trips at least Rs. 5 should be allowed to collect for each kilometre after that limit,” he said.
The government order allowed to collect an additional charge of 50 per cent over and above the minimum fare for one way trips between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m except in the Corporation areas of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur and Kozhikode, where only the metered charges alone can be levied.
K.R. Saju, Ernakulam Mandalam Secretary of the AITUC-affiliated Auto Drivers Federation, said that concerted efforts are needed to bring about a uniform and legally solid arrangement with regard to city limits.
“The existing city limit arrangements in other cities could be in for trouble if someone questions it in a court of law,” he said.