Hyderabad: App-based outstation autos ply on city roads by flouting rules

Hyderabad: Flouting the norms of the MV Act (Motor Vehicle Act), app-based aggregators like Ola and Uber are permitting other district registered auto rickshaws to ply in twin cities through their app services. Although this is the violation of norms, the State government seems to turn a blind eye on this issue.

Even after the traffic police and road transport authority has been warning the drivers that autos registered in the Greater Hyderabad limits with license plates from TS-09 to TS-13 can only ply in the city and other autos registered with various other series are not allowed to ply in the city, we still see several hundreds of autos linked up with Ola, Uber and other taxi services running in the city.

It has been observed that hundreds of autos are servicing with license plates including TS-34, TS-35, TS-36, TS-31, TS-01 and various others. These autos are from other districts like Nalgonda, Bhongir, Vikarabad, Mahbubnagar, Shadnagar, Medak, Nizamabad and among others.

According to sources of City auto drivers' association, as per the Motor Vehicle Act 1988, passenger auto-rickshaw can ply under 40km radius limits in their registered district. But when observed, one can find autos of other districts running in the city. Sources said, "These autos are crossing various tolls and check posts before entering the city. And with the hand in gloves with various department officers, the auto drivers are entering into the city and easily running other district autos in the city."

Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union state president, Shaik Salauddin said though the road transport authority and traffic police held several meetings with the app-based aggregators, nothing has been done to curb this activity. "The RTA and traffic police have to verify the vehicles especially autos running in the city and instruct the app aggregators not to register the vehicle in their service to ensure that no other district autos ply in the Greater Hyderabad limits," he added.

"Nearly 25,000 auto rickshaws are registered with various app aggregators and 90 per cent autos are from other districts." Moreover, these auto-drivers have lack of knowledge about the city roads. They just use google maps and do not bother about the passenger sitting in his auto," he added.

Narrating her experience, Divya Khatri, a student commuting in an auto-rickshaw said, "I booked a ride and some TS-34 auto number came and started a ride. He was rash driving all the time and was busy with phone calls till my ride ended. He was unaware of any roads in the city and was using maps. When I repeatedly asked him to take me on the route which I preferred, he went on missing and after repeated warnings and arguments, he was going as per the direction and charged Rs 50 extra from the final fare," she added.