Twitter
Advertisement

Cabbies, auto drivers take flyers for a ride at Pune airport

They fleece passengers, ignore official rates; authorities in slumber

Latest News
article-main
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

Though a prepaid autorickshaw booth has been set up at Lohegaon airport, passengers are getting fleeced by autorickshaw drivers and cabbies due to the apathy of the authorities concerned.

Consider this: You have to pay officially Rs173.80 if you travel a distance of 12.5 km from the airport to Camp by autorickshaw. If you travel the same distance in a cab, the cabbie charges you Rs400 officially. Beyond this, he charges Rs1,400 if you want to hire the cab for eight hours or 80 km.

The money involved in the business can be gauged from the fact that an average of 250 passengers take autorickshaws at the prepaid autorickshaw booth and 170 passengers take the cab service at the Lohegaon airport.

Imran Ansari (36), an IT professional, said, “There is no way you can travel from the airport without getting cheated by the cabbies and the autorickshaw drivers. The tariffs displayed on the board is rarely followed. Even if you insist on paying by the tariff, the rickshaw drivers and cabbies make you pay extra in the name of luggage charges once you reach the destination.”

RTO Arun Yeola said, “For prepaid autorickshaws, the tariff is 30% more compared to the tariff of the normal autorickshaws. Besides, prepaid autorickshaws have been permitted to charge 20% extra for the luggage. Therefore, the fares look higher.”

He said, “We have received complaints from passengers about fleecing by autorickshaw drivers. We have already changed the tariff taking cognisance of the complaints. Now passengers have to pay on the basis of km. If any autorickshaw driver is found fleecing commuters, we will take action against him immediately. The prepaid booth is meant to ensure that the passengers do not have any hassles.”

Shivaji Khandwe, chairman of Sai Nath Cool Cab said, “On an average, we get more than 150 passengers per day. Most of them are families and IT professionals. We charge at the rate of Rs10 per km for AC cabs and Rs8 per km for non-AC cabs.”

Shurti Kharbas, a 48-year-old resident of Handewadi, said, “When I took a non-AC Cool Cab from the airport to Handewadi, I was first told I will have to pay Rs360. However, when I reached my destination, the cabbie demanded Rs420, saying the extra money was luggage charge and that he had to travel a longer distance to drop me at my residence.”

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement