For those who think the traffic police do not book enough cases against the autorickshaw drivers, here are the statistics. Last year, over four lakh cases were booked against auto drivers and in the first three months of 2012, nearly a lakh cases were booked against them.
Going a step further, the traffic police are sending autoriskshaw drivers to courts for refusing to take passengers on a particular route, a common phenomenon in the city. Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) M.A. Saleem said that around 150 auto drivers were sent to the courts in the last fortnight and more would be sent in the coming days.
“Auto drivers end up paying 20 times higher fines as compared to spot fines. The courts normally fine Rs 2,000 for such a violation. It is part of the traffic police plan to make policing contact less. In the coming days, we will add other offences as well under the contact-less programme,” Mr Saleem said.
The police have identified gray areas in the city, where “harassment” of auto drivers is rampant. During midnight around Brigade Road or Church Street and mornings around Majestic and Yeshwanthpur Railway stations, auto drivers demand excess fair and travel to places of their choice.
“At some places, we are taking the help of law and order police to manage errant auto drivers. Normally, the traffic police end their duty by 9 pm and we are trying to manage problems faced by the citizens in the night with the help of law and order police,” he said. The police are also trying to educate auto drivers and are organising behaviour improvement sessions. Every week, around 300 auto drivers are trained by police officers and counsellors. “We are planning to provide some incentives to drivers who attend the workshop to cover at least a part of their income which gets affected during training. We are trying to bring a change in the behaviour of some auto drivers,” said a police officer.