Preeja Prasad By Express News Service BENGALURU: Bike taxis are a big no-no in the city. Yet, they ply merrily. The reason, according to officials in the transport department, is that they are understaffed. “There are less than 40 enforcement officers working in the city’s RTOs, but only 10 are working on the field in this regard,” said a transport official to The New Indian Express. “We have requested help from the Karnataka State Police in catching hold of the riders,” said the official. The department is hoping that 150 police officers will be brought in with at least 20 officers working in the city alone. Just last month, a high-level committee which included several government agencies said that despite last-mile connectivity, bike taxis can’t be run in the city. The Karnataka transport department began cracking on Rapido, an app-based bike taxi service, on April 15 with 315 bikes seized until today, according to Gnanendra Kumar, Joint Commissioner (Urban). It is said the company has blocked the phone numbers of enforcement officers so that they don’t prevent them from booking rides. The Regional Transport Office (RTO) Koramangala had registered a case with the cybercrime police earlier in April seeking total shutdown of the Rapido app.

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