Nagpur: The Auto-rickshaw owners-cum-drivers staged a protest rally. They took out a long rally from Sanvidhan Square to RTO. The office-bearers of Auto-rickshaw driver’s Association while speaking to media personnel said that with the private taxi and cab operators starting their operations in the city, people are avoiding use of Auto-rickshaw to travel to their destinations.
According to one active office-bearer of Auto-Rickshaw Driver’s Association, private cabs and taxi operators like Jugnoo (Autos), Ola Cab Service and Uber Cab Services, people have practically stopped hiring Auto-Rickshaw. This has affected their sources of livelihood or income. Many auto drivers claimed that there are many days when they do not even get one good fare.
To top this six-seater autos are taking away a prime income fares by plying autos to distant places like Hingna, Defence, Wadi, Aatwa-mile, etc. The traffic Department has started tightening the reigns on Auto-Rickshaws to ensure discipline. All these factors have practically led us to starvation they claimed.
On the other hand, some passengers and officials of RTO and Traffic Department claimed that these Auto-Rickshaw drivers and owners were fleecing the innocent and poor citizens. Even for small distances, they used to demand hefty fares and with no other alternative, people had to shell out a lot of money.
When very cheap and affordable private operators’ taxis, cabs and autos hit the city roads, the citizens could avail their services because they pick you exactly from where you are standing and drop you exactly where you want to go at cheap and affordable price. One does not have to go chasing or searching for autos who play very pricey and demand heavy sum on the pretext of it becoming late night or rain etc.
