Over 50 share auto drivers staged a protest at the Collectorate premises here on Monday against traffic police personnel who allegedly keep imposing hefty fines for no specific reason.
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Members of the Tata Magic Drivers & Owners Welfare Association stationed their vehicles inside the Collectorate campus to show their protest.
S. Prabhu, president of the association, said most drivers have been earning their daily bread for 15 years by driving share autos. “There are about 70 families dependent on the vehicle. Finding us as an easy target, the newly appointed Road Inspector has been constantly imposing fines as he pleases,” he said.
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“When we approached him to seek clarity, he simply wanted us to stop driving within the Corporation limits and to move to the outskirts of Dindigul. Though major violators like a private hotel on AMC Road have occupied one side of the road for parking vehicles, we are fined for irrelevant reasonns,” he alleged.
“The fine imposed sometimes goes upto ₹2,000, and how do they expect us to manage our expenses if we pay such heavy fines?,” he alleged. Mr Prabhu has alone paid more than ₹7,000 simply as fine in the past two months despite producing necessary documents and many have about ₹10,000 pending fines.
Later, police held talks with the protestors and a few representatives submitted a petition to Collector S. Visakan. The drivers have planned to stage a protest in this regard in front of the Superintendent of Police on Tuesday.