Ashish Utekar, a resident of Mumbai took to Twitter on Sunday morning to complain about an errant auto-rickshaw driver who refused to ferry him to Kurla station from Jio Garden in Bandra Kurla Complex Road. Just like Utekar, several other Mumbaikars have started flooding their complaints at the official Twitter handle of the Mumbai police but most of the time, the response from the latter's side is "We have forwarded it to the traffic branch. (traffic helpline WhatsApp no 8454999999)". In another tweet, a user Mini Ribeiro, asked the police to take action against two cab drivers who refused to ferry passengers going for a shorter distance. In recent times, Mumbaikars have not just become saturated by the arrogant and inhuman attitude of rickshaw and cab drivers but have also started agitation against this via social media platforms. '(Un)fare', which is a campaign launched by DNA to appeal the office going people, women and especially senior citizens to come forward and report such cases of refusal to ply, has managed to get an auto driver booked by the Kandivali police after he did not just refuse to ply a woman passenger but also abused her. Following the campaign, a number of commuters have shared their ordeals and are getting in touch with DNA so that those refusing to take passengers are exposed publicly. According to the traffic police, two main reasons why the rickshaw drivers are increasingly refusing to take passengers is to either get a long-distance ride or to get such rides which fall in the route of parking their vehicles in the night so that they don't have to travel again. Talking about the scenario, a traffic police officer requesting anonymity said,"We have seen a surge in complaints from commuters stating that in evening hours, the rickshaw drivers switch to an arrogant and autonomous mode. We have been working in this direction consistently. Under Section 178(3) of the Motor Vehicle Act, refusal to ply can invite fines for auto-rickshaw and taxi of Rs 50 and Rs 200 respectively." As per the police, most affected areas are the railway stations of Borivali West, Kandivali, Thakur Village, Kurla, BKC, Powai, Chakala, Sakinaka and JVLR where some refuse to go towards station while some refuse to go from station for short distances. (Un)fare Did an auto wallah refuse to drive you to your destination? Click a picture of the number plate and send it to Mumbai Ka DNA on 74002 11111 or e-mail it to unfare@dnaindia.net. DNA will follow it up with the traffic authorities.

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