Shared autos get permit to ply despite apex court cap

NEW DELHI: While there a cap on the total number of autos in the city since 1996, the transport department has given out contract carriage permits to a new mode of commute in the city, shared autos called Gramin Seva. The number of autos in the city was capped by the Supreme Court in a bid to cut down on pollution.
These autos have started plying in semi-urban areas like Govindpuri, Seemapuri, Seelampur, etc in the past month.About 1,400 such vehicles have been registered since the Commonwealth Games and the transport department is already getting complaints about the new service. The shared autos are also becoming a major traffic nuisance.
The autos are slightly larger in size than the conventional autos operating in the city and are allowed to ferry six passengers. They have been registered under contract carriage permits and are allowed to charge fare of Rs 5, 7 and 10 from passengers. There is no upper cap in the number of vehicles that can be registered under the scheme. Sources said that so far around 1,400 autos have been granted permits and the registrations are underway.
Though officials hope to solve the problem arising from lack of conventional autos with new scheme, on the ground it has resulted in more problems. The shared autos are picking up more passengers than their capacity. ‘‘My vehicle has a permit but it has not been registered yet. We are allowed to take six passengers, but the vehicle is bigger and some people don’t mind standing,’’ said Ramesh, who started plying a shared auto in Govindpuri after the Games.
According to sources, the department has been flooded with complaints about how the permits for shared autos have been issued under the wrong heads. ‘‘Contract carriage means the entire vehicle needs to be hired. These autos are operating like stage carriage. A lot of complaints have been received,” said an official.
Surprisingly, even as the Gram Seva is operating like autos, it has been kept out of the purview of the auto and taxi cell of the transport department. ‘‘The new autos manufactured by Mahindra and Tata Magic are being issued fitness certificates by officials dealing with buses and not autos. There is obviously some connivance between the owners and transport department staff. Further, when autos have been banned, how can the government issue permits like this,’’ asked Kishan Verma, president of the Federation of All Delhi Auto Taxi Transporters Congress.