Post RTO drive, auto drivers back to unruly acts

Ever since the RTO drive against errant autorickshaw drivers came to a halt, several commuters have spoken out about how unruly autorickshaw drivers have gone back to their old ways and continue to frustrate commuters across the city’s suburbs.

One such commuter is DNA reader and Vikhroli resident Venkatesh E. Venkatesh responded to the DNA Fixit initiative describing how the station area in Vikhroli (West) has been "completely hijacked by autorickshaws which indulge in not even double but triple parking", resulting in major traffic jams.

DNA spoke to several other commuters in this area who also complained of small road space, encroachments, errant auto rickshaw drivers with no sense of traffic discipline and bustling crowds and businesses which only add to the chaos.

Senior citizen and activist Terence D’souza of Bombay Catholic Sabha who has been vociferous about encroachments in the vicinity, believes the solution for traffic bottlenecks in the area lies in removing commercial establishments who are alleged to have illegally occupied a major chunk of railway and municipal land. "Clearing encroachments will help in creating space for amenities beneficial to commuters," he said and added, "The high court has clearly said that encroachments should go."

A senior RTO official from the eastern RTO in Wadala expressed helplessness. "There are two separate share-a-rickshaw stands with their spaces clearly demarcated. Also, the space for a regular individual stand is also clearly demarcated. However, we still find drivers occupying the entire road. We take repeated drives but in the absence of enough manpower, it is impossible to enforce rules during all hours of the day," he said.

Owner of the contentious Vinayak Arcade, Raju Shankar Joganpalli said that if the shop owners are compensated properly, they are willing to go. "From Kurla to Thane (West), large tracts of land come under railway reservation. However, we are ready to move but also want proper rehabilitation," he said.

Chief public relations officer of the Central Railway, VA Malegaonkar said, "We will decide our course of action after studying the high court’s order."