Pune Police Ban 40 autorickshaw drivers for denying ride, overcharging during the emergency trip in lockdown
Sumit Singh
Pune, April 18, 2020: In a strict action, Pune city police have banned 40 autorickshaw drivers for denying ride, overcharging during the emergency trip in lockdown. About 200 autorickshaws have been allowed to operate under the ‘Dial Autorickshaw’ program facilitated by police, RTO and rickshaw union. The autorickshaws have catered to about 4100 people till now.
“We have blocked around 40 drivers for ride denial, overcharging complaint. These drivers are from Kondhwa and some of the Peth areas. After getting complaints from people, we forward the details to traffic police and block the drivers from our system”, informed CityGlide Auto CEO Rahul Shitole, who is coordinating the Dial Autorickshaw program.
Under ‘Dial Autorickshaw’ initiative, about 200 autorickshaws are plying. People in Pune can call on 9859198591 and get clean and sanitised Auto Rickshaw at their doorstep. All Autos are equipped with Sanitiser. This step will help to get Rickshaw for transport by preventing virus transmission. According to police, this service can only be used for patient transport and in case of emergency. Abuse of this facility can lead to legal action.
“Daily we are receiving thousands of requests and to answer every request on call is very difficult. Hence we have started taking bookings on WhatsApp on same 9859198591. We are also accepting bookings on twitter @rahulshitole11”, informed Rahul Shitole of CityGlide Auto, who is coordinating the services.
“We are also taking 1-day advance bookings and currently accepting bookings in three categories
1. Medical Emergency
2. Bank employees, Medical Staff, PMC staff
3. People with Police Pass
All the credit goes to autorickshaw drivers who are going 8-10 KM empty to serve passenger and that too autorickshaws are running on the meter. In this difficult time, I think rickshaw drivers have an opportunity to change their image and I am happy that most of the drivers are doing it. Rickshaw Panchayat is trying to get sanitisation materials from PMC. Also Rickshaw Federation and Baba Shinde are helping us to attach new drivers”, Shitole further informed.
