Mumbai:

As many as 548 women from across the state, including 465 from Mumbai region, won autorickshaw permits through a lottery process organized at the Andheri RTO on Tuesday. These women will ply special autos, which will be coloured either pink or light orange, and cater largely to women commuters. The process of scrutinizing all documents will be completed by mid-February and if all goes well, these autos may hit the roads by the end of February.“The women have won through a 5% reservation system, which was introduced for the first time, as we want to encourage them to ply autos and earn a livelihood. The move will also help women who travel alone,” said state transport minister Diwakar Raote, after announcing the lottery results on Tuesday afternoon. A total of 35,628 permits are being allotted for Mumbai region while 6,000 more were won by applicants from the rest of Maharashtra, including Solapur, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur and Aurangabad.On Balasaheb Thackeray’s birth anniversary this month, another one lakh permits are likely to be announced for Mumbai region. With this, the total number of autos in Mumbai region will zoom from 1.6 lakh at present to around three lakh.The number of women applicants was less than the total permits reserved for them, said an official. For example, of the 1,781 permits reserved for women in Mumbai region, only 465 were allotted through lottery. “The remaining 1,316 permits will be allotted only to women and they can come forward with applications,” said the official. Female drivers will ply autos mainly on share routes, where preference will be given to women commuters.The department has also relaxed a few rules. Women commercial licence holders need not wait for a year for their badge and can get it within a month.The men, on the other hand, won the lottery for 34,000 auto permits in Mumbai region and you can expect as many autos on roads in 2016.Raote emphasized that knowledge of Marathi would be compulsory for every driver. “I am glad that online applications were also in Marathi. If any driver who gets a permit is found not to know the local language, we will take disciplinary action against the officials who cleared his files,” warned the minister.Raote further said that presence of more autos on the road could end the refusal menace. “This time, we have also relaxed the education qualification rules. Even the uneducated have applied in large numbers,” he said.