Autocracy back, 150 plaints in a single day

NEW DELHI: The first day of the year turned out to be not so great for many who decided to take public transport. Delhi Police received about 150 complaints against autorickshaw drivers for refusal and overcharging. The transport department, on the other hand, challaned 140 autorickshaws for violations. The total complaints received, said a Delhi government official, was 43, with nine being against buses and 32 against autorickshaws.Two were against Gramin Sewa.
According to the traffic police, of the total complaints, nearly 50% were reported from south Delhi while the rest were from the two main railway stations.
Meanwhile, Delhi Metro saw even fewer commuters than a regular Friday. The ridership on January 1-the day when the odd-even plan came into effect-was 19.08 lakh till 8pm. This was 15.87 lakh last Friday, which was the Christmas holiday. The Friday before that, the ridership was 20.29 lakh. These figures are all till 8pm.
Sravan Chowdhury, an autodriver from Uttam Nagar, had parked his auto at Karol Bagh Metro station around 9.40am. When asked if his passengers have increased, he denied it, but said, "Delhiites are out on a holiday. But in Dhaula Kuan, I saw a long queue of defaulters, they were all being challaned. Asar toh hua hai (impact is visible)," he said.
Harpal Singh Bisht, a DTC conductor, had completed two trips to and from Karol Bagh before noon. He said he was working a double shift on Friday that would last for 12 hours. "We haven't seen much crowd today. We've just collected about Rs 300 since morning," he said.
Some passengers, TOI found, were curious to know if the extra buses would ply every day now. They were disappointed to be told it was only for a fortnight. The driver of the bus said t DTC was paying the school Rs 8,000 per day per bus, which amounts to Rs 1.2 lakh for 15 days.
"I have been travelling with the same autodriver for the past one year and but on Friday, he refused to travel by the meter. It seems fear of law has completely disappeared," said Subhash Chakraborty, a resident of CR Park
While misbehaviour, overcharging and refusal can result in a challan of Rs 1000 each, if the auto driver does not comply and does not pay the fine on time, they are sent to court, said officials.