Autorickshaw drivers fleece with ease

February 16, 9 pm: Kalpana Sarkar (38) was waiting outside Pragati Maidan. Although she had flagged down eight autorickshaws, none of them agreed to go by meter. She lodged a complaint. March 25: Kajal Kapur (25) had to catch a train so she hired an autorickshaw. On the way to the station, the driver switched off the meter. An argument ensued. The driver misbehaved with her.Kapur missed the train. Later, her father lodged a complaint with the helpline. April 17: B K Chawla (72) was trying to catch an autorickshaw to take him to his daughter's place. After waiting for 30 minutes and talking to several drivers, all of whom refused to go by meter, Chawla abandoned his plan to visit his daughter. He, too, complained to the helpline. The three complainants are yet to hear from the transport department. NEW DELHI: Everyone has been through the irritation of autorickshaw drivers refusing to down meters. Almost 25,000 persons have complained since September 2002, when the public transport helpline against this menace was set up. The penalty is too paltry, and most autorickshaws refuse to follow the rule of plying by the electronic meter. Delhiites continue to be taken for a ride. This one's pinching harder. The Delhi state government agreed to the demand for hiked autorickshaw fares from February on the condition that drivers would ply by meters. The autorickshaw unions too had promised this. "The government thought they would be able to satisfy the autorickshaw drivers by increasing the fares and this would prompt them to ply by meters. But that hasn't happened," said a senior transport department official. The fare was hiked by a rupee per kilometre - from Rs 2.50 to Rs 3.50. This was a whopper - all previous jumps were of less than a rupee. Why did the government move fail? The government overlooked a reality that it is fully aware of - almost 90 per cent of the autorickshaws are controlled by cartels. "The autorickshaws are rented by unemployed migrant youth. Earlier, they paid a daily fee of Rs 150 to Rs 200 to the owners. After the hike - ostensibly due to pressure from the cartels - the drivers now have to hand over anything between Rs 250 to Rs 300 each day to the owners," said a trade insider. However, the business has not correspondingly increased. "I am forced to overcharge as at the end of the day I have to hand over Rs 300 as rent. I cannot make ends meet if I ply by the meter," said Satpal Yadav. He has a family of four to feed at home in Badayun in Uttar Pradesh. There is also a belief that a number of city politicians own autorickshaws - however not in their own name. They are also said to be the pressure group who had pushed the hike. According to Anil Sood of Chetna, an NGO, Delhiites are paying the price of the government's failure to keep an eye on the cartel. "The issue was broached even by the fare hike committee," he said. A public interest litigation filed by Sood had prompted the court to order the installation of tamper-proof electronic fare meters. Lax enforcement: While the helpline is ostensibly a salutary gesture, the cartel-system has made nonsense of it. "The STA officials seldom grab the erring driver as the vehicles are owned by somebody else. Often the vehicles have changed several hands, but this is is not registered in the department's records," said an STA official at the Burari inspection pit. Despite being criticised by the transport minister, the department is yet to focus on the core issue - refusal to ply by meters. "They are now focussing on peripheral issues like the display of driving licence on the windscreen and uniforms. The common man is not bothered about these things. They just want a hassle-free ride without being overcharged or misbehaved with," said lawyer Niraj Kumar, a regular autorickshaw user.