Traffic cops begin reining in errant Gorai rickshaw drivers

People in Gorai, who had given up hope of ever being charged regular rickshaw fares and for years have believed that rickshaw drivers there would never follow the meter system, will soon heave a sigh of relief.

The Borivli traffic division has started a crackdown on errant drivers, who charge exorbitant fares.

In two days, Saturday and Sunday, traffic cops penalised 130 rickshaw drivers in Gorai for overcharging and carrying more passengers than permitted.

While on Saturday 60 drivers were fined, on Sunday 70 were penalized.

Shashikant Talegaonkar, senior inspector, Borivli traffic division, said: "We have been receiving a lot of complaints from the locals about rickshaw drivers charging exorbitant fares. People had very few options, so they did not object."

Talegaonkar said the Borivli traffic division first wrote to the zonal deputy commissioner of police bringing to his notice their plan to initiate action against errant rickshaw drivers.

Following this, a meeting was called with the local rickshaw unions and they were told that overcharging would land the drivers in trouble and that it was for the unions to make sure that this was stopped at the earliest.

The initiative had the blessings of senior officials in the traffic department—joint commissioner of police Dr. BK Upadhyay, additional commissioner of police Qaiser Khalid and deputy commissioner of police Pratap Dighavkar.

Mehul Khandge, a Borivli resident said: "We often go to Gorai Beach and rickshaw drivers there charge us anything between Rs 200 and 400 for the distance. Many rickshaws there do not even have meters. It is as if Gorai is not a part of Mumbai at all and the rules there are different."