GURUGRAM: There has been a sharp spike in the number of shared autos that have been fined for overcrowding over the past one year, shows data released by the grievances redressal and monitoring system of the state.More than two and a half lakh challans have been issued to autos for dangerously filling up their vehicles with passengers beyond the permissible limit in the past one year, revealed a reply from the CM Window to a local resident’s complaint.In the last 10 months alone, there has been an alarming increase of 2595.34% in such fines — from 1,289 in March 2018 to 34,743 in January this year. Aseem Takyar, a resident of DLF 1, had filed the complaint in January.Shared three-wheelers are a key and convenient mode of transport for the city’s residents. The number of these autos has gone up from 22,000 in 2017 to 35,000 till January 2019. According to transport department officials, these autos are given a contract carriage permit for operating their vehicles.“In the city, there are approximately 35,000 autos (diesel and CNG). They have a permit to ply on the city roads within the MCG area and 5km beyond the area controlled by MCG. We carry out regular drives to catch autos that violate norms, especially by carrying more passengers than their limit,” said Harinder, road transport authority (RTA) inspector. He added that every week, the regional traffic authority, along with traffic police, identifies an area to check autos which violate rules.Overcrowding, however, is only one of the hazards associated with the city’s autos. The three-wheelers are notorious for rash and reckless driving, zig-zagging through the maze of vehicles or climbing on to pavements.In the last two months, these vehicles have been issued more challans than others, according to the Gurugram traffic police’s report card uploaded on their Twitter page. While 67,184 autos were challaned in January, 51,781 were fined in February. The violations include overloading, not possessing valid documents, driving without uniform, driving recklessly, among others.“Out of the total data, we have tried to filter out relevant figures. The idea is to remove the veil of secrecy in our work and let people critically examine our performance,” said Himanshu Garg, DCP (traffic), Gurugram. “With our special drives we constantly catch hold auto drivers who violate rules,” Mohammed Imran Raza, additional deputy commissioner, said.Commuters want the traffic police and enforcement agencies to act tough against the errant autos. Naveen Bhardwaj, resident of Sector 10, said: “These autos stop anywhere they like. They are openly violating rules. Strict action should be taken.”Residents urged regular checking of licences so that autos are not driven in a haphazard manner. Manjeet Malik, a Sector 93 resident, said: “The auto drivers don’t have any sense of driving. Their licences should be regularly checked.”

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