Around 45,000 new autorickshaws are set to be added to Delhi roads by September. Senior officials in the transport department said the public notice for issuing new permits will be out before August 15. In the first phase,10,000 permits will be issued,said officials. The decision to start issuing the permits comes after the chief ministers office gave the green light for the scheme,said officials. The permits will be given 30 days after the notice is put out, said a senior government official. As proposed earlier,permits will be given only to those applicants who have a valid driving licence. Only one permit will be issued to a person and women applicants will be given preference,said officials. The permits will be for TSRs that are already installed with GPS-enabled fare meters. The total number of new permits that the transport department can issue is 45,000. The Supreme Court however,has given the department the opportunity to approach the court for more permits if required. Meanwhile,representatives of the autorickshaw unions met senior Transport officials on Thursday to sort out the fare hike issue. The unions are demanding a hike of over 50 per cent,citing increase in CNG prices as well as of spare parts of TSRs. The department will look into the demand before taking a decision, a Transport department official said. But,according to officials,the additional burden on auto drivers due to the CNG hike was negligible. On an average,an autorickshaw gives a mileage of 30km per litre of CNG,which works out to be less than an increase of Re 1/km because of the hike, said the official. However,other factors will be calculated while taking a decision on hiking auto fares,said the official. The last time autorickshaw fares were hiked was in 2010. The Transport department is yet to come to a decision over installation of GPS devices in older TSRs. Sources in the department said the government was now considering issuing the new permits,irrespective of a decision on installation of GPS in older autorickshaws.
