traffic police

rogue autorickshaw drivers

overcharging

traffic police stations

auto driver

refusing hire

driver’s licence

reckless driving

habitual offenders

BMTC bus drivers

In an unprecedented action, nearly 700-- including 100 women – (all of them in plainclothes) spread across the city to conduct a massive sting operation on Monday.The purpose of the sting that lasted 15 hours starting at 6am, was to get to the bottom of the perennial Bangalore grouse that there are several. The Bangaloreans' pet peeve was vindicated: the cops found that four out of 10 auto drivers were errant, either, refusing to ply to one's destination or just being downright rude, and more.As many as 20 cops from each of the 40in the city participated in the undercover raid. The trigger for mounting a drive on this scale was when a recent Facebook post by a 22-year-old human rights activist that stated she was allegedly assaulted by anin Shantinagar, went viral.Monday’s crackdown saw 3,360 rogue auto drivers booked for offences ranging from, overcharging, not holding a vehicle permit or, not having a display card in the vehicle to not wearing uniform,, etc.That’s not all. Nearly 450 autos were seized for more serious offences like beingand having several pending cases or having committed more than one offence.With preparations and briefings about the operation, the cops were all geared to take on the auto drivers who have often been accused of fleecing, harassing, and even assaulting passengers – especially women. Numerous batches of police in uniform and mufti got cracking early in the morning, working tirelessly for 15 hours.Detailing the exercise, deputy commissioner of police (traffic–west) S Girish said, “We deployed a total of 100 policemen in plainclothes from east and west divisions and concentrated on areas depending on the time.”From 9 am onwards, the drive was on in full swing at locations like the Central Railway Station, Majestic bus stand, K R Market, Rajajinagar, Chamrajpet, RT Nagar, Hebbal, and surrounding areas. As the day wore on, more and more traffic police swarmed places like Jayanagar, Basavanagudi, High Grounds, Yelahanka, Madiwala, Ulsoor, etc. “There are all sorts of auto drivers on the roads – so many do not even have meters. Needless to say, the most common offences were refusing hire and demanding excess fare. We seized 450 vehicles, and the owners will be fined a hefty sum by the court, which they will have to pay to get their vehicles released,” DCP Girish said.Assuring this was not a one-off action, the DCP affirmed they would keep up the drive to discipline auto drivers and increase a sense of security among commuters.“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that most complaints on Facebook and the Bangalore Traffic Police website are against rogue auto drivers. These types of raids will help bring down the offences,” the DCP added.A traffic inspector, who was part of the raid, gave an account of the meticulously planned drive. “In the morning hours, we went to bus stands, railway stations, and private bus points at different places in the city to check on the auto stands there. Traffic policemen in mufti stood as decoys carrying baggage and attempted to flag down autos. The moment one of them refused hire or demanded excess fare, we would book them.”By mid-morning, he says, the focus shifted to office-goers and corporate hubs. Teams of cops donned corporate gear to carry out the same exercise. “Afternoon saw traffic policemen shifting base to shopping areas like Commercial Street, Chickpet, Malleswaram, and Basavangudi where our women police personnel tried hiring auto rickshaws,” the inspector said.By evening, the cops knew the spotlight would have to turn to areas close to multiplexes, temples, malls, and tech corridors where people were returning from work. They found auto drivers trying to take undue advantage of non-locals, especially women.“While most of them showed a general amount of respect toward women commuters, there was an obvious change in their behaviour when people spoke to them in Hindi or English, as compared to Kannada,” said a constable, who was part of the operation.Curiously, when they were spoken to Kannada, the auto drivers would reportedly just try to drive off without a second glance, but if addressed as ‘bhaiyya’ or addressed in English, the drivers would immediately try to milk the situation and fleece prospective commuters. People wearing trendy clothes or dressed in corporate attire were also found to be easy prey for auto drivers.“If autos were to be hired to areas like Indiranagar, Koramangala, Bannerghatta Road, HSR Layout, pat would come the demand: Rs 500,” said the constable, adding drivers tried to cash in on commuters’ helplessness as the only other option was bus. The rule of one-and-a-half times the fare after 9.30 pm had been made irrelevant as drivers were demanding excess from morning itself. “We noticed that for every 10 autos stopped and checked, at least four blatantly violated one or the other rule. Among the auto drivers who refused to go to the destination sought, the elderly of the lot were found to be more polite and gave genuine reasons saying their houses were on the other side of town, etc. Such drivers were spared.”Explaining the need for long-term education programmes for auto drivers on customer etiquette, DCP Girish said if these were, one could say the government was responsible for ensuring they were trained. “However, anyone who wishes to drive an auto rickshaw just has to buy one, obtain a permit and license, and start driving. Therefore, it is exceedingly difficult to check how they behave with commuters – especially women – as they lack any kind of formal training. We are doing our best to create awareness through drives like these.”Commuters who wish to complain against rogue auto drivers for overcharging or refusing hire can do so through a number of methods.080-22868444/22868550tmcbtp@gmail.comSend an SMS to 52225 in the following formats – In case of refusing hire, type ‘AUTO REF (registration number) (location, from and to) (date and time)’.AUTO REF KA01A1000 Navrang to Malleswaram 3:30 pm, 1 July, 2014In case of overcharging, type ‘AUTO OVC (registration number) (location, from and to) (date and time)’.AUTO OVC KA01A1000 Navrang to Malleswaram 3:30 pm, 1 July, 2014Additional commissioner of police (traffic) B Dayananda (in pic) said the sting operation was conducted based on the growing number of complaints by harassed commuters. “Our website, SMS, and telephone services receive numerous complaints – a majority of whom are from women - against auto drivers who demand excess fare and refuse to go to certain destinations. We sent decoys in plainclothes to check and catch rogue auto drivers redhanded. A total of 450 vehicles have been seized. The owners must get them released after paying a court fine from anywhere between Rs 1,500 to 3,000, depending on the nature of the offence,” he said.Though the traffic police do not have a database of all auto drivers across the city, they maintain and constantly update a database of offenders with pending violations. “We cannot say the exact frequency with which we will conduct these drives, but there are plenty more to come. We encourage citizens to lodge complaints through the IVRS telephonic system, SMS, or email so that we can keep a track of the number of grievances. The more complaints we receive, the more helpful it is for us to narrow down the most troublesome areas and the most common types of offences,” the additional commissioner added.