My men will tackle auto drivers,warns Raj

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday warned union leader Sharad Rao against causing inconvenience to commuters else he will have to face the wrath of his party workers and citizens.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Tuesday warned union leader Sharad Rao against causing inconvenience to commuters else he will have to face the wrath of his party workers and citizens.

He warned that party workers and commuters will tackle the autorickshaw drivers in their own way if they continue to inconvenience people in Mumbai and Thane. From tomorrow,my party workers will be out on the streets to tackle autorickshaw drivers who inconvenience the commuters. The Maharashtra Police does not have enough manpower to protect them, Thackeray said.

Autorickshaw and taxi drivers have faced the wrath of Thackerays locals versus migrant campaign over the past couple of years. His party was involved in violent protests against the drivers from UP and Bihar for refusing fares and not knowing Marathi.

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Thackerays comments came a day after auto unions staged a day-long strike demanding increase in fares. Last month,auto unions staged protests on four days against the RTO drive to check faulty meters. People will not tolerate this behaviour. Till now,the auto drivers have been attacking commuters,they will soon have to face the wrath of the public, said the MNS chief.

Challenging him to launch a strike,Thackeray said Rao will find it difficult to travel. He went back to his pet theme of migrants and claimed that 95 per cent of the drivers against whom action has been taken by the RTO are from Bihar and UP. He said under Section 22 D of the Motor Vehicles Act,no autorickshaw driver can refuse fare,however short the distance may be.

Thackeray said auto drivers will have to instal electronic meters as expected by the government.

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