Auto rickshaw drivers of New Delhi

Auto rickshaws contributes a lot to Delhi's transportation needs. However, hiring an auto-rickshaw is often tricky, as there are only a few who charge according to standard meter charges.

CJ: MANISH KUMAR

Thu, Jul 02, 2009 15:29:51 IST

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Delhi News :

THE AUTO rickshaw contributes significantly to the transport system in Delhi, but there are lots of problems in hiring an auto rickshaw. It won't be wrong to say that hiring an auto rickshaw in Delhi is very tricky, as there are only a few who charge as per standard meter charges. The auto rickshaw drivers are so ill-behaved that if you ask them to go by the metre they refuse and make excuses like the metre is dysfunctional.

Due to this behaviour by drivers, people prefer to avoid the auto altogether. But it is not just the individual auto rickshaw drivers who are responsible for this because it must be understood that ninety per cent of auto rickshaws in the national capital, New Delhi, are in the grip of auto mafias, operating under the garb of private financiers. Today 90 out of 100 auto rickshaws are in the vice-like grip of the auto mafia, which operates as a private financier. Each mafia owns or controls in excess of a 1,000 auto rickshaws. The high rental or repayment demanded by these financiers means that than over 80,000 auto rickshaw drivers work as 'bonded labour'.

Many rickshaw drivers are blaming the government for the high fare demands. They say it is too expensive to buy a rickshaw these days. In fact, loan rates for auto rickshaws are too high to apply for a loan and on top of this companies are trying to raise the price of CNG. This forces the drivers to pass on the expense to passengers.

There is also the issue of metres that run faster than they should. An auto rickshaw driver disclosed that electronic had a feature loophole that was manipulated by auto-rickshaw drivers. Actually they fix a wire in the meter which when touched ensures that the meter runs automatically.

Auto rickshaw drivers are also involve in many crime-related incidents like looting and kidnapping. Earlier this year a shameless incident took place with a foreign tourist, a 20-year-old Somalian refugee had alleged that an auto-rickshaw driver and his friend had raped her. She reported that the incident had taken place when she boarded an auto from Malviya Nagar to Nizamuddin where she has been staying for the past two years. She said the auto rickshaw driver and one of his friends took her to a secluded place where the auto rickshaw driver proceeded to raped her.

Vijay, an auto rickshaw driver said that he agreed that there were some auto drivers who were irresponsible and also misbehaved with commuters but he went on to say that you could not blame all rickshaw drivers just because of few badly-behaved drivers. He said that many times, even the good auto drivers were pulled up by traffic police because of the behaviour other less-disciplined auto drivers.

After many such incidents in this category, an NGO called Nayanbhoomi has started a new auto rickshaw club. The members are well-dressed, courteous, trained and honest, and they all drive auto rickshaws. They are committed to receiving passengers, sticking to the correct fare and maintaining a customer-oriented approach. The rickshaws sport a plate bearing the brand’s name, a fare chart, the driver’s photograph and the message: “I am an honest auto rickshaw driver; we work with honesty to change Delhi’s destiny”.

When these auto rickshaws observe fair practises, people will see that they are actually gentle persons. It is up to them to be gentle if they want to gain the respect of commuters.

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Posted comments (1)

	This is really interesting. I wish I could find these Nayanbhoomi people around when I am trying to get around Delhi. I am an American living here for the summer, and rickshaws are my lease favorite thing about the city. They follow me around, hollar out to me, get out of their autos and chase me, pull up to me unsolicited while I am walking down the side of the road and block my path, refuse to go away when I ignore them, take advantage of my good nature if I try to turn them down respectfully by trying to stop and talk me into getting into the auto, etc. I can count on one hand the number of rickshaw rides I have taken in two months of being here because they always try to over charge me, but they insist on harassing me because of my skin color. I don't think people from India would like being treated like that by cab drivers in my country. Hopefully someday this behavior will change. It really hurts tourism.
	Erik \| 20 July 2009 Reply to Comment \| New Comment \| Report Abuse