In a move to ease commuting by auto-rickshaws, the Transport Department on Monday created six zones where the auto rickshaws will ply. These zones include South, South-West, West, East Delhi (including the Trans Yamuna area), New Delhi and central district and Outer Delhi — including the North West zone. Based on these zones, the auto-rickshaws will be coloured coded soon.
Sources with the Transport Department said that the colour-code to be allocated per district will be decided in the next meeting with the traffic police. The decision was taken during a high-level meeting of Transport Department, Delhi Police, Delhi Integrated Multi Modal Transit System (DIMTS) and DTC for streamlining the services.
According to Transport Department officials, once the colour-codes are decided, autos of a particular zone cannot turn away passengers wishing to travel in the area. "The colour coding will be decided in a meeting with the traffic police. The autos will be allocated zone according to the address mentioned on their permits, so that the auto driver doesn't have to travel long distances during night and thus does not refuse to ferry passengers," said an official.
As per the proposed scheme, the autos will be allowed to ply in any part of the city, but after sunset an auto of a particular zone cannot deny a passenger asking to travel to that area. "The final criteria would be decided after discussions with Transport officials and police and a colour strip will be put behind autos. Once this comes into play, an auto driver, who refuses taking a passenger of his/her zone at night, will face penal action," said Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami.
He added that to address the complaints of overcharging and passengers facing harassment and misbehaviour from auto drivers, a mechanism would be evolved soon whereby harassed commuters will be able to report any incident through the emergency buttons provided in the auto-rickshaws. "The department has decided to go ahead with the panic button alert system in the autos.
Once the passengers press the button, a message would be flashed to the DIMTS-operated control room at ISBT from where the Police Control Room would be alerted," said Goswami.