Madam udhar road bahut kharaab hai barish ke kaaran. Nahin jaayega. (The road there is bad owing to the rains,I wont take you there.) That might be the most common excuse you will hear from taxi or autorickshaw drivers during the monsoon,but this season,the Traffic Department of the Mumbai Police is promising to change that. Considering the difficulties commuters face in finding a taxi or autorickshaw,the Traffic Police have intensified the anti-refusal to ply drive from this month. The Traffic Police officers claim that from this month,they have intensified the drive multi-fold. According to Traffic Police officers,till July they used to penalise 20 errant drivers. But since August they have kicked off the drive and began penalising almost 300-500 drivers every day. Considering heavy rains,we have started this intense drive. Since the complaints have gone up,action against the errant drivers have also increased due to concentrated drives this month, said Brijesh Singh,Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic). From January to July,the traffic police had penalised 2,608 drivers for refusing to ply. In August,they charged 300-500 drivers daily. After the meter jam initiative by citizens,which succeeded in creating awareness among commuters about the rules governing taxi and auto drivers,the Traffic Police website has been flooded with complaints against errant drivers. The drive was kicked off by the Traffic Police in August 2010 acting on complaints received by commuters. Refusal to accept a fare is punishable with fines up to Rs 200 and suspension of licence. Commuters may complain against the errant driver on the traffic police website or the Facebook webpage of the Traffic Police. We are making cases every day and penalising more than 300 drivers daily for the offence. Not just this,we are also educating the drivers not to refuse commuters even for short distances, said Singh. Commuters,however,claim that despite the drive,the problem persists. The official webpage of the Traffic Police on Facebook continues to be flooded with complaints against errant drivers.
