The Murky (Auto) Mafia

The auto-rickshaw mafia has a stronghold, and something needs to be done before it’s too late!

On reading about the Supreme Court judgment announcing an additional 45,000 auto licenses for Delhi, I realized the not-so-hidden angst that I have for the auto-rickshaws of Delhi, and their drivers. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand that for a growing metro like Delhi to sustain itself, it needs efficient modes of public transport. And, of all the available forms of public transportation, the one that fulfills the required criteria of being safe and hassle free to an acceptable level is the Delhi Metro, which is truly a world-class means of public transport and a pleasure to use. The other public transport options, however, don’t fare quite so well.

The worst of the available modes was previously the privately-owned public transport buses plying on Delhi roads. But, thankfully, due to the court’s intervention, this menace has been curbed to a large extent – since buses are now largely operated by either the DTC or large companies that can be held responsible in case of a mishap.

The spotlight now, though, has moved on to the murky world of what is, in my opinion, now the worst form of public transport in the city – the auto-rickshaws. Ever since the Metro’s inception, and the other modes of transport improving, the glaring deficiencies of our autos has really begun to show. The worst of it is that customers are fleeced in every possible way, while the enforcers (the Transport Department, Traffic Police, and the Government) are silent spectators, if not active participants to it all. As if it was not enough for the average commuter to deal with rickety, unsafe, rickshaws, but they also have to deal with the obnoxious drivers and their tampered, or permanently non-functioning, meters – not to mention the driver imposing ridiculous and arbitrary fees even when the meter is working.

The primary issue appears to be that the auto mafia holds a majority of the auto licenses, even though the rules say that one person cannot be allotted more than one permit – needless to say, this is circumvented by connivance with the Registration authority officials. The money sharks get the auto’s allotted in fake names and addresses, and thus control the price at which these permits are sold to genuine auto drivers, which turns out to be about three times the actual fee. They, in turn, have to fleece commuters to make ends meet. Secondly, whenever the Government has tried to enforce rules like GPS locators or even attempted to enforce the meter rules more effectively, the auto drivers political unions, and the powers behind them, hang out the threat of a strike and the Government, more often than not, buckles under their pressure.

And, it’s not just the annoyance to the paying consumer that the auto’s cause, but, with their shoddy maintenance and absolute disregard for traffic rules and driving etiquette, they’re a complete nuisance to other road users as well. It’s a common sight to see a rickety, old, polluting (despite being run on CNG) auto struggling to climb a flyover in the middle of the fast lane – thereby blocking the traffic flow and causing a big line of vehicles behind. Random changing of lanes, stopping in the middle of the road, and jumping traffic lights is a daily sight.

As a road user and commuter, I’d like to offer a few solutions if I may:

• Better maintenance and rigorous checking of the autos on our roads: While the Transport Department claims to inspect all auto’s at the time of permit renewal, the general condition of them on our roads clearly implies that this is simply not the case
  
  
• Better regulation of the permit issuance process (obviously): Clearly the Mafia has a hold on this, and the latest batch of 45,000 permits are in clear and present danger
  
  
• Driver training to be made mandatory from a recognized institute: So the driver is, at least, aware of the traffic rules in the first place, and also of the need to follow them
  
  
• Strict regulation of traffic laws and even stricter punishments: The Delhi Traffic Police has made huge strides of late, and now they need to focus on auto drivers violating every rule in the book and playing with the lives of innocent passengers in the process

With an additional 45,000 licenses on the horizon, the authorities need to act immediately before the autos spearhead the further decline of our traffic to an absolutely intolerable state.