BENGALURU, 24 JAN

If you are among those who have been unable to get a quick auto ride on your favourite apps such as Ola, Uber, Rapido and Namma Yatri in the last few days, it is because there are not enough autorickshaw drivers available to ferry you across the City.

According to an investigative report done by Salar News, it is found that nearly a thousand auto rickshaw drivers hailing from places like Semra in East Champaran district of Bihar have moved to other cities thanks to the recent crackdown by the traffic police and the RTO against unauthorised autorickshaws.

Explaining what transpired, K. Somashekar Gowda , President of the Karnataka Rajya Chalakara Parishat, which aids auto drivers in the City, said, “In November and December 2023 we started getting information on accident cases involving autos plying in the outskirts of the City. When we ran a background check we found out that most of these autos did not have the necessary documents required to ply in the City. The officials then asked the local auto drivers to keep an eye on these ‘unauthorised drivers’ and report them to the police. This also caused a lot of bad blood between the two groups which also resulted in a protest by the ‘unauthorised drivers’.

Rakesh, an auto driver from Siddapura said that the local auto drivers were finding it difficult to get customers thanks to high influx of autos. “All their driving licenses are fake. Three of them take turns to drive one vehicle, one in the morning, one in the afternoon and the other at night. This had caused a lot of tension between the two groups,” he added.

The matter was taken to the RTO by the Auto Drivers’ Association, following which the RTO issued a notice asking all auto drivers to carry legal documents with them at all times. Failure to produce the documents when asked would result in the vehicles being seized. It was at this point that the drivers who did not have valid documents fled to places like Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Speaking to Salar News, N Velumani, partner of VM Finance one of the largest financiers of auto rickshaws in the City said "The allegations by local auto drivers that we are encouraging some auto drivers to function without valid paperwork is false. In fact, 65 per cent of the drivers who we have financed are from Bengaluru or other parts of Karnataka, and only 35 percent of the drivers are from Bihar’’."Aadhaar card is a document accepted across the country. When an auto driver approaches us for funds to buy a new vehicle, we check his residential agreement, send one of our staffers to do a background check and ensure that there are guarantors for the person who is availing the loan.

Harshitha Raju, a commuter said, “If these autos are not unauthorised, that jeopardises the safety of women.” Now, local auto drivers want us to finance only those people whose Aadhaar is from Karnataka. How is this fair?’’ Velumani asked.In this turf war between the auto drivers from the City and those from outside the State, it is the commuter who depends on autos for their daily ride who is the loser. —Salar News