Auto-rickshaw stir falls flat

SURAT, Aug 11: The proposed stir by autorickshaw unions, which was to begin from today, against the practice of traffic police handing ou...

SURAT, Aug 11: The proposed stir by autorickshaw unions, which was to begin from today, against the practice of traffic police handing out RTO memos to erring rickshaw drivers turned out to be a damp squib with practically all autorickshaws plying normally in the city.

Union leaders, however, claimed that they had merely threatened to go on a strike and had not announced a specific programme in this regard.

Eight of the 14-odd registered autorickshaw unions, including the Shakti Autorickshaw Union, the Surat Autorickshaw Union, the Sahayog Autorickshaw Union, the Sahakar Autorickshaw Union, the Varachha Autorickshaw Sangh, Surat Autorickshaw Mandal, School Autorickshaw Sangh and the Katargam Autorickshaw Mandal had decided to take their vehicles off the road by Tuesday if the RTO and the traffic police did not reconsider their decision on the issue.

Talking to Express Newsline, Regional Transport Officer K M Patel said that the unions8217; demands could not be accepted as the department was fining erring drivers according to the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act.

8220;We can however refer these cases back to traffic courts if the driver concerned contends that the cases framed against him are false,8221; Patel added.

According to the practice, when the driver reports to the RTO that the cases framed against him were invalid, the department refers them back to the traffic courts, who in turn carry on with the cases. But the rickshaw unions wanted nothing short of the RTO memo system being scrapped altogether.

Jashu Barot, president of the Shakti Auto-rickshaw Union, while admitting that the proposed stir was just to threaten the officials, said, 8220;But we will have to actually go on a strike to make the authorities realise that they are robbing us of hard earned money.8221; Other leaders including Vinod Patel, Basir Patel and Devji Solanki while maintaining that their demand still stood, accepted that the proposed stir was not at all effective.

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Meanwhile, with rickshaws plying normally in the city, a driver Mohammed Arfan said that he was not even aware of the proposed stir, while his counterparts like Dinkar Pande and Ghulam Shaikh, though had knowledge of the strike call, preferred not to forgo a day8217;s earnings.