Transport dept, police challan autos

LUDHIANA: The district transport department along with traffic police swung into action on Wednesday and challaned as many as 70 autos till the filing of this story. The drive is to go on till 10 pm.
Giving details about the campaign, district transport officer Ashwani Kumar Sharma said, "We have challaned 20 autos so far. The drivers of these vehicles were either not carrying documents or not having permits."
Out of these, three autos have been impounded by the department.The officials felt the vehicles have completed their road life, which is 15 years and the rest of the autos were challaned as the drivers were not carrying Registration Certificates. All these people have now been told to contact the department on Thursday.
Meanwhile, police department challaned 50 autos. Talking about it, SP (traffic) Harmohan Singh said, "As per the orders from Punjab and Haryana High Court, the autos that are over 15 years old were challaned as these are not only the cause of pollution but a threat on the road too as it is not safe to use these vehicle for public transport."
He said, "We have to check the autos till 10 pm today so the numbers might increase as our main motive is to give safe ride to the commuters on the city roads."
Residents are happy with the initiative and keeping their fingers crossed as they feel that this initiative might improve communication in the city. Finally, the administration has taken a step in the direction of making city pollution free, said a citizen.
Notably, in 2008 on a Public Interest Litigation a case was registered that diesel run autos are the main source of pollution. And since September 2009, it was decided that no new permits would be issued to diesel run autos.
Talking about it, a city resident Gurnam Singh said, “These autos are not only source of pollution, but a major reason of traffic chaos too. Wherever they want to stop they just slam on the brakes without sparing a thought for other people. They should be immediately taken off the roads.”
Seconding his views, Mannat Sharma, another resident said, "It is indeed a praiseworthy step and I am desperately waiting for the day when there would not be any smoke emitting auto on the city road. But I think the next focus of the administration should be driving test of these auto drivers, who create lots of problems for others on the road."