The police have cautioned the owners of auto-rickshaws not to give their vehicles on lease to unknown persons and check their track record before renting them out.
According to Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) K. Mahendra Patrudu, 36 cases were booked last year against auto-rickshaw drivers for various crimes such as molestation, dacoity and robbery. This is a disturbing trend and the auto-rickshaw owners should collect the driver’s identification details such as Aadhaar card and driving licence, said Joint Commissioner of Police A.S. Khan.
According to Mr. Mahendra Patrudu, about 94,000 cases were booked against auto-rickshaw drivers in the last year for various traffic violations such as driving without licence, wrong parking, driving on the wrong side and overloading.
‘We have booked about 6,000 cases for driving without licence alone. This indicates that the owners are not following the basic norms before leasing out their vehicles. Autos were responsible for about 200 accidents, and from this year we shall take action against the owners also,” said the ADCP.
Registration
To bring accountability, the police asked the auto owners to get the vehicles registered with a unique identification number from the police station under which the auto operates. So after about 95 % have completed the exercise, but some have forged the numbers and severe action will be taken if caught, said Mr. Patrudu.
It is learnt that the auto driver who was recently caught trying to molest a woman in Pendurthi area, has painted a number pertaining to Two Town Police station, rather than getting a Pendurthi registration. “We are planning to issue a stamp from now on, to avoid such malpractices,” said Mr. Khan.
