This campaign is no meter jam

Lesser cabs on city roads might have given you an impression the recent 'Meter Jam' campaign was responsible for it.

But the real reason cabbies were boycotting the roads was because of an ongoing campaign by the RTO.

The special drive that was started to nab illegal taxis on August 9, culminated today. Dilip Jadhav transport commissioner, said, "We constituted different teams and deployed them at as many as 40 centres to nab the offenders.
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Officers from Sholapur, Pune, Satara and other cities were involved in the campaign. This is an ongoing process which will continue until we achieve our target."

DCP Nandkumar Chougle, Mumbai traffic police, said, "We estimate that 8,000 taxis don't have permits. The campaign has been successful, though illegal cabbies kept their taxis off-road. We will soon issue new dates for the drive, which we cannot disclose."

Dinesh Sharma, a cabbie, said, "The RTO and traffic cops are seizing illegal taxis, on the basis of improper permits. Since a lot of cabbies don't have the necessary documents, they have decided not ply before the drive ends. No will take a risk to lose their taxis."

Another cabbie Shyam Sharan said, "The police and RTO have gotten stricter. They are randomly checking cabs. They fined me because my vehicle insurance had lapsed. I had to wait for one hour while they verified all documents and matched them with the engine number."

"We are also planning to send a notice to the owners of altered vehicles (Taxis and auto rickshaws) that are
illegal according to the Motor Vehicle Act. If they fail to reply within a week, we will seize the vehicles and send them scrap," added Jadhav.

Meanwhile, A L Quadros, president, Mumbai Taxi association said, "The RTO is detaining taxis for minor offences, so the cabbies are afraid to ply. We are meeting the transport commissioner on Monday, and will decide our course of action."

RTO campaign
Began on August 9 and ended yesterday

Total vehicles checked 5427
Total challans issued 1058
Total vehicles seized 637
Total officers involved 75
Total spots identified 40
Teams constituted 18