The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Plea to draw up suburban auto fare list

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Sunday, Apr 10, 2005

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Plea to draw up suburban auto fare list

By Our Staff Reporter

The City Police Commissioner, Dinendra Kashyap, addressing a meeting of the Police and Residents' Associations' Initiative in District Ernakulam (PRIDE) in the city on Saturday. Photo: H. Vibhu

KOCHI, APRIL 9. Suggestions on streamlining the fares for autorickshaws operating in the suburbs and more effective monitoring of visitors to residential areas were made during this month's meeting of Police and Residents' Associations' Initiative in District Ernakulam (PRIDE).

A meeting with representatives of various residents associations and top police officials in the city is held on every second Saturday as part of PRIDE. Dinendra Kashyap, City Police Commissioner; A.R. Santhosh Varma, K.P. Lailaram and S. Surendran, Assistant Commissioners of Police; Circle Inspectors and around 80 representatives of residents' associations in the city attended the meeting held today at Sreedevi Auditorium, Maradu.

It was suggested that the fares of autorickshaws operating in the suburbs be finalised and a fare list exhibited at all the auto-stands. Now there is no system of a standard minimum fares in the suburbs and there is also a tendency on the part of many drivers to refuse to take up short journeys, said S. Balakrishnan, president of the Ernakulam District Residents' Associations' Apex Council (EDRAAC).

Representatives of the associations also complained that the drivers resist private vehicles sharing the space marked out in junctions as autorickshaw and taxi stands. The police agreed to discuss these issues during the meeting with trade unions of autorickshaw and taxi drivers, scheduled to be held next week.

Screening visitors

As an attempt to increase public participation in checking crime in the city, it was suggested that residents' associations form a mechanism to monitor strangers visiting their areas.

S. Aravindakshan of Pandavath Nagar Residents' Welfare Association, Maradu, mooted the idea of associations issuing passes for the visitors after confirming their credentials.

Fingerprints and photographs of the visitors could also be collected wherever possible, so that it would be easy to track the suspects if a crime was committed, it was suggested.

The residents should refrain from buying products from vendors if they failed to produce proper identification documents issued by the respective residents' association, said Mr. Balakrishnan.

The City Police Commissioner inspected Maradu Junction, where there were complaints of increasing accidents caused by a sharp bend near the Devi Temple and presence of a bus stop and shops affecting visibility. "The junction needs traffic improvement," said Mr. Kashyap.

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