1,700 more autos to throw traffic out of gear in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: While the traffic police has its hands full with 1.2 lakh registered autorickshaws, which is deemed to be sufficient for the city, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has announced permission for another 1,700 autorickshaws for certain communities a month before the GHMC elections without considering the effect on the traffic.

The traffic police has banned shared autorickshaws and barred entry for three-wheelers — about 25,000 of them — from Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nalgonda and Mahbubnagar districts in an attempt to contain the number of vehicles. Over 30 per cent of complaints with the traffic police is about autorickshaw drivers fleecing commuters and breaking traffic rules.

The Telangana State Minorities Finance Corporation has invited applications to provide 1,000 autorickshaws with 50 per cent subsidy, providing direct benefits to the autorickshaw drivers. About 1,700 people applied for the scheme.

The corporation selected 1,000 drivers through a draw of lots. The other 700 complained that they were not satisfied with the selection pattern. Following this, the Chief Minister sanctioned another 700 autorickshaws. A traffic police officer who did not want to be quoted said the increase in the number of autorickshaws would lead to three issues.

He said the three-wheelers would further clog the roads which are already narrow and choked. The larger number of autorickshaws would impact the public transport system, he said. Besides, the autorickshaws would add to the pollution load in the city.

Shared autorickshaws add to city traffic snarls

As autorickshaws cannot compete with private cabs, most of them are forced to operate as shared autorickshaws. However, the shared autos are not only overloaded but they also disturb traffic by illegally halting and parking on main roads.

The RTC and autorickshaw drivers are the biggest traffic violators and 45 per cent of the challans issued daily are to these drivers. DCP Traffic, South, A.V. Ranganath said, “Over 80 per cent of autorickshaws are metered but they are being forced to convert into share vehicles as there is a huge demand for the same. Another reason that shared autorickshaws should be discouraged is for security reasons and the police has no record of the drivers.”

He said, “The share autorickshaws offer travel at a very low price, like Rs 10 from Begumpet to Madhapur. There are over seven passengers per auto and this has disturbed the city’s traffic system, he said. Autorickshaws from Medak and Mahabubnagar create competition in Hyderabad. The city roads have become the source of employment for over 25,000 autorickshaw drives coming from the outskirts.” An officer said, “Sharing autorickshaws is not viable if the driver takes three passengers. The city traffic department has 3,000 personnel for Hyderabad who have been instructed to begin inspections on sharing and overloaded vehicles.”

According to the Hyderabad traffic regulations, each autorickshaw should accommodate only three persons plus the driver, but shared vehicles accommodate over seven people.  The departments are taking a stern stand against autorickshaws without meters, which will be banned from January 1, 2016.

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