Karnataka: Government-run cabs duping customers, says CAG
In many cases the CAG found that the owners of the cabs had employed drivers in violation of the contracts.
BENGALURU: At a time when the transport department is going all out to rein in cab aggregators such as Uber and Ola on safety and pricing issues with new rules coming into effect, the state run cab service is in the dock for non-compliance on all counts!
In its report for the year 2015 which was released recently, the Comptroller and Audit General of India has rapped Karnataka Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) for shoddy job and risking the safety of passengers, who use airport cab from Kempe Gowda International Airport to city and back.
In a scathing attack on the corporation, which started the cab service in 2008 soon after the launch of the airport, the CAG has said, “In the background of recent incidences regarding safety of cab users, an audit review was conducted on 500 air-conditioned and 150 non AC cabs run by the corporation to airport and was found non compliance on almost all counts.”
The report stated that in as many as 149 cases the driver’s police verification was not submitted! In about 111 cases, the vehicle insurance had expired that covers life of driver and passengers, and so was permits issued by RTO to run the taxis.
In many cases the CAG found that the owners of the cabs had employed drivers in violation of the contracts. Further, it also stated that KTDC didn’t have records of any vehicle he had engaged.
As per the terms, the cabs were to be fitted with GPS with Mobile Data Terminal with digital meters, printers, and all the bookings to be controlled by one central reservation (call) centre. In a damning revelation, it was found that 223 cab operators had switched off the devices at the time of audit.
On running the operations through call centre, an agreement was entered with CERT Info Track Telematics. But the company didn’t honour the agreement in terms of guaranteed trips. As against the commitment of 15,930 trips per month, CERT only facilitated 329 to 804 trips per month!
The company was charging a whopping Rs 11,700 per taxi as call centre and parking charges at KIAL! The CAG has further pointed out that the KSTDC has so far spent Rs 1.15 crore, but failed to establish a call centre in the last seven years.