Traffic cops put brakes on delhi auto-cracy

Sunday, Feb 07, 2010

An auto in Dwarka was caught plying with a fake Delhi number painted on it, even as the auto had been registered in Uttar Pradesh on a different number. A criminal case of forgery has been registered

Another 50 autos which were impounded have seen no claimants so far, as there seemingly is some illegality in their paper work. The cops are probing each case now

In over 1,100 cases, auto drivers were caught without the mandatory PSV badge and driving license

The special drive initiated by Delhi Traffic Police in the last week, in which a whopping 10,000 autos have been prosecuted for a range of violations in just five days, has exposed the Capital's worst kept secret — that a majority of the autos are plying illegally. The core of the issue is the 55,000 cap on the total number of permits for autos. In the absence of any other equally effective mode of public transport, the gap between demand and supply is huge. And this has become the major cause of the present auto menace.

A large number of Three-wheeled Scooter Rickshaws (TSRs) caught by the cops for offences like overcharging, refusal and other road violations were without valid permits, driving licenses and PSV badges from the State transport department. In one of the cases, auto driver Rakesh Verma was caught driving an auto with a UP registration number (UP 14Y 9513) which had a fake Delhi number painted on it.

"Verma said that he wanted to operate the auto in Delhi, as it is more lucrative. So to avoid detection, he painted a fake number on it. A case under sections 417, 468, 471 and 482 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered in the matter with the Dwarka police station and is under investigation," said Satyendra Garg, Joint Commissioner of Police (traffic).

Industry sources reveal that the actual number of autos plying in the city could very well be double the legal limit. The chances of such an offence getting detected, unless the cops launch more such dedicated drives, is almost nil. Several autos have reportedly been caught with fake number plates in the past.

Another blatant violation is that the drivers of autos are not the real owners of the vehicles, which is not permitted by law. In fact, it is estimated that 90 percent auto drivers in the city don't own the vehicles and 'benami' autos operate freely.

In the drive started from February 8, the traffic police caught a total of 10,503 autos, of which 1,372 were impounded. About 900 drivers were without the mandatory PSV badges, 719 drivers were without valid driving licenses, 151 were ovecharging and another 85 for refusing to take passengers to destinations. The cops amassed about Rs 7.88 crore from fines collected from challans issued on the spot.

Also, due to lack of enforcement and regulation, old autos have changed hands several times but records of the transport department have not been updated. This, officials claim, poses a huge problem of enforcement as over 80 percent of the notices issued to autos go undelivered. Infact, even out of the autos impounded during the drive, there are no takers for about 50 vehicles. Encashing on the loopholes in the system are "auto-mafia" or financiers who own a majority of autos.

The transport department is introducing smart cards for autos. "We have started updation of records to bring about more accountability and step up prosecution," said a senior transport department official.

Original news source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Traffic-cops-put-brakes-on-delhi-auto-cracy/articleshow/5544009.cms