MUMBAI: The state government will make knowledge of Marathi compulsory for all

. The announcement to this effect was made by minister of state for transport

in the state legislative council on Monday.

"Knowledge of regional language is must for those who apply for the autorickshaw licence," Deokar said in the council. The minister was replying to a calling attention motion raised in the house. The motion on the menace of auto rickshaw drivers was raised by

(Congress).

Participating in the debate, Neelam Gorhe and Ramdas Kadam (both

) cited that many of auto rickshaw drivers lacked the knowledge of Marathi. "License should be issued only if the applicant knows Marathi," Kadam said in his speech. Gorhe further said, "Whenever you interact with auto rickshaw drivers most of the time Hindi is the language used for giving the reply. License issuing authority should take exams in Marathi."

Replying to the query, Deokar said, "Yes, knowledge of regional language is compulsory for procuring auto rickshaw license." Following the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's pro-Marathi campaign, the Sena too has been harping on the issue.

Vidya Chavan (NCP) said, "Refusal of fare is the major issue faced by most of the commuters. Unofficially there are share-a-rickshaw system in some parts of the city. The government should make the share system official. It will help in resolving the issue." NCP MLC Hemant Takle pointed out that the process of fitting electronic meters in rickshaws was very slow as so far less than 400 rickshaws have been fitted with metres. Takle said that since there are over 7.50 lakh rickshaws in the state, the process to cover all rickshaws would take years at the current pace. Desai, who had moved the motion, said, "The government should take the initiative and fit metres rather than outsourcing the task to private players. Involving private players would increase the chance of metre tampering."

Deokar in his reply stated that at some places share-a- -rickshaw opreates officially and the government would consider giving similar permission in other places too. "A decision and action will soon be taken in this connection." "The electronic metres will be fitted within a scheduled time frame. Also, the 11 companies who have been assigned the job of fitting metres are selected by a tender process leaving no room for any malpractices," the minister added.