30k city autos yet to upgrade meters
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It’s been over two years since the state transport department issued a notification mandating the fitment of electronic meters in autos plying on Bengaluru roads. But there are still over 30,000 autos that continue to use mechanical meters.
The focus of the authorities has shifted to penalizing auto drivers with tampered meters rather than enforcing the rule of installing electronic meters that may help curb meter tampering.
With about 85,000 autos, Bengaluru tops in terms of auto populace but the accountability of autos remains questionable, despite an auto RTO launched exclusively to deal with auto related issues.
“A directive was issued by the transport department in 2009, directing all autos in the city to be fitted with electronic meters.
“Mechanical meters are more prone to be tampered than the electronic ones, but there are over 30,000 autos still running on old meters.
“Fares have gone up drastically and no passenger wants to pay extra because of meter tampering. Random checks are being conducted by Weights and Measures department officials and traffic police and hundreds of auto drivers are penalized for tampering. If the transport department ensures that all autos switch to electronic meters, the issue of meter tampering will be solved to an extent,” said R Somashekar, president of the Bangalore Auto Drivers Union.
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