The tourism ministry’s plan to teach autorickshaw and taxi drivers the basics in mannerisms and English in the wake of the Common-wealth Games seems to have run out of takers. The ministry maintained that the autorickshaw drivers were not coming forward as a result of which a very less number of such drivers have been trained so far.
The ministry had asked the Haryana Institute of Public Adminstration to train nearly 8,000 autorickshaw drivers and well over 3,500 taxi drivers since early this year. The institute had roped in three other Delhi-based institutes to accommodate the large numbers. However, the total number of such drivers trained is understood to be barely into hundreds.
Talking to this newspaper, director B.S. Baswan, Indian Institute of Public Adminstration, one of the participating institutes in the programme, said that the last time drivers were trained was in the “winters”. He added that though the institute had made all the preparations and would be interested in conducting the training, not many were coming. At that time, nearly 200 drivers were trained, added Mr Baswan.
Secretary (tourism) Sujit Banerjee told this newspaper that the autorickshaw unions were not sending the drivers for training. “We have everything in place. We have also arranged to pay for their loss of wages for the day. Still, they have not been coming forward,” said Mr Banerjee. He, however, added that the ministry was trying to persuade them into sending the drivers for training. “We want the programme to continue,” said Mr Banerjee. Though the unions maintained that there were several issues, but they refused to divulge details. One of the provisions of the scheme was also that the contact numbers and the vehicle registration numbers of trained drivers would be put up on the Delhi police and other websites.