The decision by the autos to go off the road, however, is giving a harried time to office goers as well school and college students. The visitors to the national capital were particularly affected by the strike call as they were stranded at railway stations and bus-stands in different parts of the city. 

Unhappy with the stance of autowallahs, Ashish, who travels to office daily using the three-wheeler, criticised the strike call and said that the problems should be first taken up with concerned officials, before such drastic steps are taken. He also complained that union members were forcing some of the autos plying on the road to stop service. 

Leaders of auto unions, who have called the strike, however, claimed that they had the support of at least 15 unions in the national capital. They claimed that traffic officials were harassing the auto-drivers by fining them huge amounts even for minor mistakes and impounding the vehicles.

They also claimed that fines were being imposed despite the original papers and permits were deposited with the transport authority. Auto unions are now demanding that challan issued to them should be valid for four months.

The transport department, however, said that they were not even aware of the strike call and asked the people not to panic. Transport officials, however, said that the auto owners will have to maintain the pollution records of their vehicles for the last three quarters as mandated by rules. 

Even as the sparring between the auto-unions and the government continues, the people continue to suffer for another day as well as no solution is in sight. Satender Kumar, who came to Delhi on Tuesday morning, had a hard time reaching Kapashera border, which normally is not the case travelling by an auto.

Caught unaware by the strike call, Kumar had to board a jampacked bus, which reach the destination almost an hour late.