Meters of LPG autos too are rigged

P Hareesh / TNN / Dec 3, 2005, 02:11 IST

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Travelling in an auto run on LPG might be a comfortable experience but you might end up paying more than the actual fare.

HYDERABAD: Travelling in an auto run on LPG might be a very comfortable experience but you might end up paying more than the actual fare.
Majority of the autos that run on LPG in the city have faulty meters despite the fact that an LPG-driven auto is more economical than an auto running on petrol.
The returns from an LPG-run auto is at least 50 per cent more than that of a petrol auto for every kilometre taking into consideration the fuel cost.
The joint operations by the legal metrology, regional transport authority (RTA) and traffic police departments during the past couple of days against meter tampering and excess charging by the drivers revealed that most LPG-run auto drivers have their meters tampered.

"The meters show an excess of 60-80 paise for every rupee and in some cases the auto drivers extract 100 per cent extra than the actual fare," a legal metrology department official said.
There are more than 7,000 LPG-run autos in the city. These autos, being new and well-maintained are more comfortable.
Some of these vehicles even have additional attractions like a music system. Surprisingly, LPG autos caught in the joint operation had tampered meters but had also manipulated the warm gear, that connects the meter with the wheels to calculate the distance travelled by the vehicle.
Auto drivers admit that meters in LPG autos are also manipulated. "An auto driver invests more than Rs 20,000 for converting the vehicle to LPG.
Apart from the cost of the conversion kit, majority of new autos are purchased using loans and the driver has to pay the interest," said D Anand, an auto driver justifying the tampering.

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