Transport body's decision comes as a relief to commuters as there will be more vehicles plying on the road; the auto rickshaws will be on the roads by mid-2014
Soon, you will have to wait less to get an auto rickshaw to reach your decision. The transport body is planning to renew almost 20,000 dead and expired permits for auto rickshaws.
Presently, till September, the number of dead permits was 64,273, comprising both auto rickshaws and taxis. Of these, 42,073 were permits for autos and 22,200 were for cabs.
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No comment
Sources said that they were looking to reissue at least half of the dead auto rickshaw permits by mid-2014, for which a decision would be taken in the months to come. But no comment was made on dead permits for taxis. “People do complain about rampant refusals by rickshaw drivers and many a times, these rickshaws don’t halt even after seeing a passenger hail the vehicle. We should be able to take a decision in the coming months about opening up the dead rickshaw permits,” said an official from the Transport department.u00a0
Officialspeak
S K Sharma, transport secretary, said, “The government has already asked the transport department to look into revival of some of the dead auto permits. As of now, no decision has been taken to revive dead taxi permits.” Commenting on the lack of decision on taxi permits, A L Quadros, who heads the Mumbai Taximen’s Union, said, “We will go to court if the dead permits aren’t given to us, and instead are given to the fleet cabs.”u00a0
1,21,320
No of auto rickshaws in the city (includes both Andheri and Wadala RTO)
42,713
No of dead permits for auto rickshaws (includes both Andheri and Wadala RTO)