The Hindu 15.11.2010
Ways to streamline public transport
Biju Govind
More autorickshaw permits will be issued since the city limits have expanded.
Kozhikode: The Kozhikode Corporation, City Police and the Regional Transport Office are jointly working out the modalities to increase the number of permits issued to autorickshaws plying the city following the merger of three grama panchayats with the civic body.
The district administration had already recommended to the State government to issue additional permits to 250 autorickshaws to run services in the city.
However, the civic authorities not only want an increase in the number of permits issued, but also permits for existing autorickshaws plying in the three erstwhile grama panchayats — Elathur, Beypore and Cheruvannur-Nallalam.
As of now, 4,101 autorickshaws have been given licence to ply the city limits.
These permits were issued in 2000. An equal number of autorickshaws ply the city illegally meeting the requirement of the residents and the floating population.
Deputy Mayor P.T. Abdul Latheef said the Corporation would hold talks with the City police to permit the existing autorickshaws in the three grama panchayats to ply the city, the boundaries of which have been extended now from the Chaliyar river in the north to Korappuzha in the south.
Demand exceeds supply
Residents in the city are already facing a lot of hardship on account of shortage of autorickshaws. The proposal to increase the existing permits by 250 would not meet the demand of the over 6.5 lakh population.
Besides, more people from the neighbouring grama panchayats of Feroke and Olavanna depend on the city for various activities.
Regional Transport Officer P.T. Sasidharan Nair said the Regional Transport Authority headed by the District Collector would have to take a final decision based on the policies of the State government in increasing the number of autorickshaws in the city.
No ceiling yet
So far, the authorities have not fixesd a ceiling in allotting permits to autorickshaws to ply the grama panchayats unlike in the city.
Residents too have a slew of complaints against autorickshaw drivers. They say most drivers refuse to take passengers to certain destinations, particularly residential localities. Some charge exorbitant rates. This violation gets worse after dusk when commuters are forced to pay even double the fare, said Arangil N. Vasudevan, a retired Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies.
Special permits
Suggestions such as giving special permits to autorickshaws to ply during night hours would solve the problem to a great extent. Earlier the traffic police had worked out such a system but to no avail with many drivers failing to cooperate.
