Seemingly aware of campaign, most autorickshaw drivers in Quarter Gate and Wanowrie agree to go anywhere

MiD DAY Test Drive: Week 2, Day 4

Seemingly aware of campaign, most autorickshaw drivers in Quarter Gate and Wanowrie agree to go anywhere

It was Day 4 of Week 2 of the campaign launched by MiD DAY and Radio One along with the traffic police and the Regional Transport Office. Twenty-eight errant auto drivers were booked. Nine were caught in Rasta Peth, on JM Road and outside SGS Mall.

Initially, when the auto campaign started at Quarter Gate, for at least 45 minutes, almost all the drivers were ready to go to Viman Nagar, Camp and also other places.

The MiD DAY team congratulated every auto driver over there for agreeing fare and asked them to keep up the good work by taking passengers to their destinations.

Later, along with the traffic police officers the reporters moved to Rasta Peth. At J M Road, one driver demanded extra money to go to Corporation, and many drivers refused to go to other places in Camp from SGS Mall.

In the second round of the campaign, the reporters stationed themselves at Wanowrie and Fatima Nagar. The auto drivers at Wanowrie somehow seemed to have become wise. They have caught on with the campaign as they didn't deny fare. But at Fatima Nagar, rickshaw drivers againu00a0 flatly refused to take passengers to close places.u00a0

Here's what we foundu00a0

Hold it right there! The traffic police catching hold of an auto driver for refusing to take a passenger from Rasta Peth to Pune railway station. Pics/nikhil ghorpade

Reporters: Abid Hasan and Kranti Vibhute
Place: Rasta Peth, JM Road and SGS Mall (Camp)
Time: 10.45 AM-12.30 PM
Offenders booked: 9
The traffic police officers guided the reporters to stand at various spots in Rasta Peth to catch the auto drivers who usually flee when they don't want to ferryu00a0 a passenger. Nine auto drivers refused to go to the Pune railway station.
Most of them refused to ferry the reporters to the railway station, giving an excuse that they don't get return fare from the railway station. One of the auto drivers started arguing with a traffic police officer and the other asked for an extra Rs 20 to go to Corporation from JM Road.
A traffic police officer, who was accompanying the reporters, said, "These auto drivers are very notorious and even I have faced their refusal many times. But, this had happened when I was in civil dress. I always took down their auto numbers so that I can teach them a lesson, when I am on duty."u00a0u00a0
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Reporters: Abid Hasan and Sonia Rodrigues
Place: Wanowrie
Time: 5.30 PM-6.15 PM
Offenders booked: 3
A very few rickshaws were available. One of the drivers refused to go to Swargate. However, all the drivers at the rickshaw stand agreed. They seemed to know about our campaign. Two other auto drivers plying on the road refused point blank to go to Swargate. Rachna Panshu, who travels daily by rickshaw for her chores, said, "No auto drivers want to go from Camp to Sadhu Vaswani Chowk as it is a short distance. They flatly state an amount and do not want to go by the meter."

Reporters: Abid Hasan and Sonia Rodrigues
Place: Fatima Nagar
Time: 6:30 PM-7 PM
Offenders booked: 4
A daily commuter Jyoti Jha who travels to Camp for her job said, "Most of the autorickshaw drivers still use the old meter card to fool the commuters. They charge us extra or ask for half return even during the day time, when we ask them to take us to places like Bhavdhan or Hadapsar."
The reporters approached rickshaws standing outside Big Bazaar, as passengers have a difficult time getting rickshaws over there. A few drivers who were asked to go to Hadapsar flatly refused and went away.

Reporters: Shree Lahiri, Abid Hasan and Sonia Rodrigues
Place: Kalyani nagar and koregaon Park
Time: 12.05 AM-12.35 AM
Offenders booked: 12
The reporters were standing outside a restaurant that has been relaunched recently.u00a0 Theu00a0 autorickshaw drivers who were caught asked for extra money for going to Hinjewadi. A few drivers demanded Rs 300, Rs 400, Rs 500. Another even asked for Rs 600, saying it was late night. The drivers charge exorbitant amounts from passengers at night.

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