The Hindu : New Delhi News : Mukhi flays Transport Department

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Thursday, Dec 09, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Mukhi flays Transport Department

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 8. The Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly, Jagdish Mukhi, today criticised the State Transport Department for taking several decisions over the past six months which have "harmed the interests'' of autorickshaw, taxi, van and tempo operators. He also alleged that the Government had gone ahead with such decisions to suit its own interests.

At a press conference here, Prof. Mukhi said the Transport Department had passed the order to ban "Vikram" vehicles in September in haste after dubbing it a "slow moving vehicle" with an eye to facilitate the launch of a vehicle in the same category made by a foreign company. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader pointed out that even the Delhi High Court had observed that the Transport Department was not the competent authority to ban the "Vikram" vehicles. He demanded an inquiry against the "erring" officers.

Earlier in a meeting held in the chamber of the State Transport Minister on Tuesday, which was attended by representatives of autorickshaw and taxi unions, apart from the representatives of the school van operators, Prof. Mukhi also took up the matter of high fee for transfer of permit of three-wheelers. He pointed out that while the transfer fee for cars was only Rs. 150, that of three-wheelers was Rs. 3,265.

The Government was also attacked for failing to issue permits to the requisite number of autorickshaws in the Capital. Prof. Mukhi claimed that in 1998, when the petrol-run autorickshaws were banned, there was provision for 85,000 permits for CNG autorickshaws. However, the Department had issued only 55,000 permits for CNG vehicles so far. He added that considering the increase in the population over the past six years at least 1,25,000 autorickshaws should be on road.

Expressing concern over the fact that Delhi was the only place where autorickshaws were black-marketed, Prof. Mukhi said the vehicles were costing more than double the actual price. Against the actual cost of Rs. 1.1 lakh for the autorickshaws, the buyers were paying Rs. 2.7 lakhs, he claimed. This, according to him, resulted in authorickshaw drivers resorting to malpractice, like overcharging and tampering with meters, in order to recover their costs in a short time.

Prof. Mukhi also drew the attention of the Minister to the fact the electronic speed governors, which were not tamper proof, were coming at a high cost of Rs. 25,000, while the manual meters came only at a cost of Rs. 2,500.

The Leader of Opposition also claimed that the Government has given an assurance about allowing temporary permits to autorickshaw and taxi drivers from four new points, the Indira Gandhi International Airport and Old Delhi, New Delhi and Nizamuddin railway stations. Earlier, the temporary permits were issued only from Burari Authority of the Transport Department. The new arrangement is likely to be put in place within the next fortnight.

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