india

Updated: Mar 09, 2019 02:20 IST

The Delhi government on Friday, after a gap of nearly six years, increased the per kilometre fares of auto-rickshaws by 18.75%.

The Delhi cabinet’s decision — which comes months before the Lok Sabha elections — brought cheer to a large section of auto drivers, who expressed their support to the AAP within hours of the announcement.

According to a senior AAP functionary, auto-rickshaw drivers are a key vote base and made up as much as 50% of the votes that the party won during the Assembly elections in 2015.

Data with the transport department states there are 95,000 registered autos in Delhi, out of which 89,000 are operational.

“The government today has fulfilled our long pending demand. Now, we will ensure that the party wins in the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. There are 30,000 auto-rickshaw drivers who are members of our unions. We have already made 1,000 of them ‘office-bearers’ to mobilise drivers and their families,” said Santosh Pandey, president, Aapka Apna Auto Taxi Union.

Commuters, however, were not happy and questioned the government on steps taken to ensure autos ply by the metre and do not refuse trips. “They were opposing the Metro fare hike. But, now they have increased auto fares. We are ready to pay the hiked fare, but what about action against erring auto drivers?” said Kamini Pandey, who regularly commutes in an auto from Old Rajinder Nagar.

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said the revised fare structure – Rs 25 for the first 1.5 km, Rs 9.5 for each subsequent kilometre and Rs 0.75 per minute for waiting or moving at a speed of less than 6 kmph – is not going to come into effect immediately. At present, the rate is Rs 25 for the first two kilometres, followed by Rs 8 for every subsequent km.

“The cabinet decision will be sent to the transport department after which the State Transport Authority will approve and then the transport department will notify the new fares. Also, the metres of all auto-rickshaws will be recalibrated,” he said.

A section of auto-rickshaw drivers were sceptical about the move. “This can further decrease our customer. Ola and Uber cabs have eaten our market share. With this hike, people would further opt for cabs instead of autos, even for short distances,” said Kishan Verma, president of All Delhi Auto-Taxi Transport Congress Union.