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| Jammuites rely on auto’s as matadors fail to cover entire city | | | Pankhuri Aggarwal
JAMMU, Feb 7: Jammu as a city has grown from leaps and bounds over the last few years, however, the public transportation network particularly mini buses do not cater the whole city area due to which Jammuites are facing problems.
Mini buses (Matadors) do not ferry the people to every endpoint as a result people have to resort to auto rickshaws for reaching their destinations. Like petrol or various food items, the rates charged by these auto rickshaws are also touching the sky. There is no proper crisscross by the transport authority due to which the common public is suffering. "Despite meters have being installed in the auto rickshaws but they are only for display and of no use", rues Kamla Devi, a house wife. She further added, "When we ask them to reduce the fare, they start misbehaving, they do not know how to talk to a lady, they start screaming and we cannot even do anything as the commuters using this facility are at large. If I will not pay, the other will pay and the story goes on and on and nothing is been done to stop this nonsense". Auto rickshaw drivers swindling passengers seem to have become an inseparable feature at various auto stands. The auto rickshaw drivers do not even think before charging the fare. The new rates charged by the drivers are, to go to Canal Road from Jewel Chowk earlier it was Rs 30 and now it's Rs 40, from Parade Ground to Panjtirthi earlier it was Rs 40 and now Rs 50. From Raghunath Bazar to Link Road earlier it was Rs 50 and now it's Rs 70. From Canal Road to University earlier it was just Rs 50 and now they charge not less than Rs 100. From Parade to Trikuta Nagar from Rs 50 to RS 70-80 and fare is rising so on. Nothing discourages these drivers from quoting outrageously extortionate prices to anyone who walk out to them. "The auto rickshaw union does have a list issued by government concerning fare to be charged for various destinations like Gole Market or Raghunath Bazar, but these drivers do not seem to follow those chart rates but charge indiscriminate from the helpless buyers and when ever we ask for the chart, there justifications are always ready. They never are intended to show the chart", said Dhruv Aggarwal, a student.
Another localite Harish Malhotra said, "Maximum times in a month the matadors are at a strike and due to the increasing traffic jams in the Jammu city, I have to take resort of the auto rickshaws to go to the office but these auto drivers especially during strike period charge double the amount they charge during normal days. As I live in canal road, my office is in City Chowk so normally I pay
Rs 50 but during these strikes I had to pay Rs 100 just the double".
When Early Times asked the traffic police officer on duty he said, "The transport policy which recommends the use of fare meter is a must and the policy is passed over the five hundred auto rickshaws running in the city but the implementation is still awaiting the government agreement till now". When asked a group of auto rickshaw drivers about the increasing prices maximum of them said, "We do not own these auto rickshaws, at the end of the day even we have to pay a certain amount of money to the owner plus for the fuel extra. So what is left for us in such an inflationary situation when all the rates of the items from a pin to an aero plane are so high.
Even we have a family to run". As a conclusion this system is purely optional and that is where the problem lies. It is in the hand of the government wholly to take a strict action against them but even the drivers' circumstances are also justified. So a conducive solution has to be found out so that the commuters as well as the drivers are on the safe side. |
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