More than 3,000 black and yellow taxis have been off city roads for the last three to four days. The reason is that, these cabs have not been getting clearances from the Regional Transport Office (RTO). On Friday, taxi unions met officers from Tardeo RTO and raised two issues. First, fewer cabs have been getting a fitness certificate from the RTOs. Second, for the past four days, the Tardeo RTO has been inspecting cabs thoroughly. Sources said that they are using videography to capture the condition of a cab and also driving on the testing track to check its fitness, engine performance and other parameters.
"Earlier, around 150-160 taxis used to get clearance and fitness certificate. Over the past few days, only 70-80 taxis are being inspected and getting fitness certificates on a daily basis," said a union member.
Earlier, fitness certificate was issued within 5 minutes; the same procedure now takes 20 minutes per vehicle. In fact, drivers claim that they are getting an appointment only in October and that their vehicles are running without fitness certificates.
If they do get caught, drivers have to pay a fine as well as Rs 50 per day, from the day of the expiry of the fitness certificate, to RTO officials. However, officials claim that they do not have sufficient manpower and will try to find a solution.
"We are strictly following section 62 of the Motor Vehicles Act. That is why black and yellow taxis are thoroughly being checked before its renewal," said Praveen Gedam, Transport Commissioner.
Moreover, the unions claim that RTOs have erred in the inspection of e-meters that were meant to be checked every two years. However, it is now being carried out annually. "The government had promised that once e-meters are introduced, its inspection will happen once every two years. But now they have made some changes and gone back to annual inspection. We are objecting to this as well," said Al Quadros, taxi union leader.
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