Members of the auto union in the city on Monday voiced their protest against the administration’s move of cancelling permits of auto drivers who do not have commercial license. Out of around 8,000 autorickshaws in the city, a very small number of drivers are eligible for obtaining commercial license as it requires a minimum education qualification Class 8 certificate. If the Traffic Department and the Regional Transport Office begins to implement this, thousands of driver will lose their occupation.
The RTO has asked more and more drivers to come forward and apply for commercial license but has received negligible response. “Even if a driver has minimum educational qualification for applying for the license, we are not receiving character certificates on time,” said President of Chhattisgarh Autorickshaw Union Jagdeesh Prasad Tiwari on Monday.
Tiwari complained that the drivers who had applied for the character certificates two to three months ago are still waiting for police verifications. “Till the time the police department clears its backlog of pending character certificates, there is no use of filing for more such documents,” Tiwari said.
In a meeting held with the RTO and Traffic Department officials on February 28, the members of auto union requested them to provide relaxation to the auto drivers in terms of compulsory commercial license.
“We can provide relaxation to the autorickshaw drivers for some time but ultimately they will have to abide by the rules,” said Additional Superintendent of Police (traffic) Balram Hirwani.
A series of steps have been taken by the government after they met the members of the union two months ago. A detailed survey was carried in the city to identify spots that could be used as ‘auto spots’. More than 100 spots have been identified by the traffic department and the proposal has been sent to the Raipur Municipal Corporation for approval.
We have demanded that stands with a capacity of at least 4,000 autorickshaws are created in the city. Most of the times, we do not have space to park our vehicles. And when we park autos on the roadside, we face challans and heavy fines, said Tiwari.