25 June,2009 08:58 AM IST | | Subroto Roy
Tampered autorickshaws meters in Pune charge you every 56 seconds what they should in a minute; such meters are called chappan meters
You may have argued with an autowala, suspecting him of rigging the meter. But are you aware that such rigged meters, known to rickshawu00a0drivers as chappan meters tick every 56 seconds instead of the standard minute?
Testing times
When MiD DAY took a ride in three different rickshaws from Poud Phata to Nal Stop, the readings differed 1.10, 1.20, and 1.50. "In Pune 1.00 on the metre is a kilometer and each .10 is 10 meters," said Arif Shaikh, owner of National Metre manufacturing company in Kondhwa.
Similarly, the metre readings from Poud Phata to Baba Jaan Chowk on three occasions varied between 2.00 to 3.00. A rickshaw driver said a metre could be rigged at any autorickshaw repair centre. "If the metre ticks faster than a minute, you can be certain that it has been tampered with," he said. Shaikh confirmed that it is very easy to rig meters. "If you travel every day on a particular route, you will see variations which indicate the meter has been rigged," he said. Baba Shinde, member of the Regional Transport Authority, agreed that meter tampering is rampant in the city. "The number of cases registered are yet to be assessed," he said.
RTO CM Kharatmal said that passengers could lodge a complaint via SMS on 59994.
Despite admitting that metre tampering is widespread, the RTO is yet to take any action against erring drivers.
This when for a substantially lesser offence like refusing to ferry commuters, 48 drivers have been served notices in March.
