Chennai: At a time when the Transport Department has started cracking down on violators of norms for vehicles plying for students, overloaded shareautos that have been posing a potential threat to the safety of passengers have attracted little attention in the city.
Says Meganathan, who is employed with a maritime university: “Overloaded share autos are death traps. The drivers concentrate more on making money and never bother about passenger safety. With the vehicle packed to capacity, there would be little chance for anyone to escape in the event of an emergency.”
A woman commuter who travels frequently by shareautos alleged that often passengers commute seated on the door. “This happens mostly during the rush hours,” she added. According to a trade unionist, although as many as 2,500 share autos ply in the city, only 197 have been categorised as ‘share autos’ by the government.
All the others are operated without the required permits. Share autos have made inroads into every nook and cranny of the city and the suburbs, and the patronage is high especially in areas not connected by government public transport. Although share autos are permitted to carry only five or seven passengers, depending on the model of the vehicle, most drivers take as many as 10 persons, which is above the permissible number.
On the flagrant violations committed by share auto drivers, Devadoss, a share auto driver said, “Police are booking cases against share autos on various charges, but never have I been booked for overloading.”
However, Elumalai, president of AITUC Share Auto Drivers Union, admitted that the black and yellow colour painted share autos are authorised by the Government to take twice the number of passengers. “Though the drivers take 10 commuters per vehicle against the prescribed five, the travel would be comfortable,” he claimed.
When contacted, a senior official with the Traffic Police said they were not focusing on the share autos in the ongoing special drive effected in the light of the death of a school girl, who slipped through a hole on the floor of a school bus, a few days ago. “We may carry out a drive against the share autos a little later,” the official added.
However, a senior transport department official said orders had been issued to warn the drivers found to be carrying more children in their vehicles in violation of the norms.
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