The Maharashtra government plans to crack the whip on errant auto-rickshaws by making it compulsory for them to provide service to commuters on phone call.

This assurance was given on Monday by Minister of State for Transport Gulabrao Deokar during a discussion on steps taken to discipline auto-rickshaw drivers, especially in major cities like Mumbai.

Alka Desai of Congress and Neelam Gorhe of Shiv Sena said commuters faced hardships owing to the attitude of auto-rickshaw drivers and their aggressive unions.

Gorhe demanded that the government must make it compulsory for auto-rickshaws to provide service on telephone calls at the designated stands, to which Deokar agreed.

Maharashtra has over 600,000 auto-rickshaws, including nearly 100,000 in Mumbai alone.

In Mumbai they are widely patronized by people in the suburbs to travel to and from their homes to railway stations or other short distances not serviced by taxis.

Deokar also pointed out that the government has already made it compulsory for all auto-rickshaws to install electronic meters from April 1.