'People with luggage should take taxis, not autos'

On day 11 of the MiD DAYs Meter Down campaign as the number of offenders galore bloated with arrogance rickshaw drivers continued arguing with the traffic cops for penalising themPlace Nahur Railway Bridge amp Nirmal Lifestyle MallTime 930am1130am and 5pm7pmOffenders Caught 18Commuter speaksSadaram Ghandiria who was refused for having luggage on him said My luggage is not much Rickshaw drivers readily ply four people at a time which is illegal But they dont agree to take people with baggage unless the commuter is ready to pay extra for it Lavanya Pai said Rickshaw drivers think they run a private car business They always want to have the right of choosing the destination If so then they should stay at home Hiralal Darda said Penalising these rickshaw drivers is a very good thing I have no personal enmity with them but Im fed up of waiting for long hours to get a rickshaw due to their refusalsMIDDAY Auto Rikshaw campaign Rickshaw drivers fined for refuslas at Mulund WestAuto driver speaksMohan Chauhan My rickshaw is not a goods vehicle Unlike taxis rickshaws dont get any luggage money Hence I refused a man with luggage who wanted to go to Sonapur People with luggage should take taxis not rickshaws I cannot be booked for refusal it is the rule Deepak Gupta Several passengers approached me together and hence I chose to ply the one that suited me So booking me for refusal is wrong Spot of bother A number of rickshaw drivers claimed that to avoid being fined most of them have now started plying to the destinations of travellers choice Ramanujan Shinde a rickshaw driver said With Diwali season on it is better to take shorter fares and earn less rather than ending up paying fines and running to court Many rickshaw drivers in the eastern suburbs have decided to follow this for a weekText Maleeva Rebello Pic Datta KumbharPlace Andheri StationTime 930am1130am and 530pm730pmOffenders Caught 12Commuter speaksNitin Shah said Rickshaw drivers always refuse to ply short distances and give excuses Interestingly if they happen to get a long distance fare they readily agree to ply the passenger Such rickshaw drivers who show double standards must be penalised and their permits should be revoked Revathi Nair said I want to go to Chakala However Ive been waiting for the past 30 mins as no rickshaw driver is ready to ply meAbdul Khan and off More Sushma Netke at MIDDAY AUTO rickshaw camping at AndheriAuto drivers speak After being caught for refusing to ply Manoj Mishra created a scene I did not see the passenger so I cannot be penalised However the passenger whom he had refused testified against Mishra revealing his arrogance Following the commuters statement Mishras license was confiscated Arguing with the traffic cops Mishra said Henceforth I shall not come to Andheri stationIn his defence Gulabchand Shukla who too was caught for refusing to ply said I desperately wanted to go to the toilet and hence I refused the fare Abdul Khan Since I wanted to go for some personal work I refused the passenger Text Nivedita Dargalkar Pic Nivedita DargalkarPlace Ghatkopar ETime 10am12pm and 5pm7pmOffenders Caught 8Commuter speaksAnkit Thakkar a collegian said After the initiation of campaign refusals have started declining The rickshaw driver was outside the queue and agreed to ply me But he was booked for his offence Now I have to look for another auto Jalindar Tanpure who was travelling with his family said We approached the rickshaw driver asking him to ply us to Vikhroli station but he refused However he readily agreed to ply a lady passenger who wanted to go nearbyAuto drivers speak Pralhad Soni I was not in the queue when the passenger approached me But realising that the traffic cops were around I refused him I was confused about the law Gopinath Kaur I was looking out for a small distance fare hence I refused to go to Vikhroli I was in hurry because I have to go with my children for Diwali shopping Text Faisal G Tandel Pic Sameer Abedi