Tamper tantrum

On the eve of the strike announced by the Auto Rickshawmenrsquos Union leader Sharad Rao made it all but obvious why his league of men are up in arms against the installation of tamperproof emeters in their vehicles While the strike today will cause incalculable losses mdash both in terms of time and money mdash to the cityrsquos hapless commuters the union has a simple solution up its sleeve to lsquorecoverrsquo the losses it incurs by sulking off the roads for a whole day mdash tamper meters and charge commuters higher fares in the days that follow File pic The shocking revelation was made by Rao albeit via implication yesterday Asked how drivers would recover their losses Rao smiled cryptically saying ldquoThey know how to recover losses and they will do itrdquo He refused to shed further light on what mysterious method he had prescribed to his followers But in a city where passengers repeatedly complain of the meter running at breakneck speed and starting to count over the base fare well before traversing the initial 16 km Rao left little to the imagination as to what mechanism the auto drivers had in mind The irony lost on him Rao insisted that it was not just the passengers they abandoned but the auto drivers themselves who stand to lose at least Rs 200 each by staying off the road for an entire day The governmentrsquos campaign for the installation of tamperproof electronic mechanical meters is precisely to keep this kind of clandestine sleight of hand at bay The process of conversion to emeters began in March after a High Court ruling made them mandatory Till date 200 auto rickshaws have been installed with emeters Unlike emeters mechanical meters donrsquot show tellall errors if they are tampered with A mechanical meter has 67 teeth a few of which can be easily clipped causing the meter to complete a loop faster ldquoWe have been continuing with our campaign to nab those who tamper their meters from time to timerdquo said a senior RTO official on condition of anonymity Their cheery disposition at stark odds with citizens who gloomily brace themselves for a day of difficulty on the roads members of the union happily claimed that over 85 per cent of the 14 lakh city rickshaws are on their rolls ldquoOver 7 lakh rickshaws across the state will be participating in the strikerdquo said Rao yesterday The few who arenrsquot under his unionrsquos umbrella belong to the smaller and less influential unions that have shown unwillingness to participate in the strike The union also announced yesterday that instead of an indefinite strike it would only call off its autos for a day ldquoUnlike what we proposed earlier this will be a oneday strikerdquo Rao added ldquoTampered meters or not there is no need for such a strike as the government is considering the demands raised by the unions There is no logic behind this strikerdquo said S Deshpande of the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat In fact a part of the general outrage at the strike stems from the fact that the state government has already accepted the demand for a hike of Re 1 taking the basic fare to Rs 12 from this Friday It has also set up a onemember panel under former bureaucrat PMA Hakim who will be evising a formula for revising fares after considering factors like CNG prices and the cost of living in the city Meanwhile other auto unions reiterated that they would not participate in the strike ldquoWe have asked our auto drivers to ply on the roadsrdquo said Haji Shaikh leader of an MNSled auto union touted to have 15000 members under its banner The government warned that it would take strict action against those who disrupt the peace on the roads on the pretext of the strike ldquoWe will cancel permits of those drivers who get involved in incidents of violence or take the law into their handsrdquo said SK Sharma state transport secretary u00a0 Alternatives gtgtMSRTC will ply an additional 70 buses in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region of which 25 will ferry passengers in Thane and 10 within city limits gtgtBEST has promised to ply a maximum possible number of its fleet of about 4700 buses ldquoWe will dispatch buses to those areas where there are more passengersrdquo said N Walawalkar BEST spokesperson gtgt42000 taxis will be taking to the streets ldquoThere is no need for us to go on strike All taxis will be plying Sharad Rao is doing this purely to satisfy his own egordquo said taxi union leader AL Quadros The fare story The auto union claims that every day an auto driver earns approximately Rs 1200 of which he claims about Rs 200 A lionrsquos share of the amount has to be paid to the permit holder or owner of the rickshaw and also for fuelling the vehicle up with CNG The traffic department arrived at Rs 1144 as the new fare but decided to round off the amount to Rs 12 so as to avoid inconvenience over small change The hike will come in effect from April 20u00a0