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Vol. #4 | Issue #12 | Wednesday, December 9, 2009 | 8 pages Fashion | Health | Lifestyle | Entertainment | Interiors | Community

Once again trafficru les are be ingtaken for a ride on

Ghaziabad roads. The onlydifference is that this timethe ride is a fully loadedone. The mention is aboutthe small auto rickshawwhich is one of the majorsources of communicationin Delhi and NCR. In Delhi,traffic rules are widely fol-lowed, but broken aftercrossing the UP border toGhaziabad and the char-acter of the people changesaccording to the systems ofthe different States.

The small auto rickshaw,which has a capacity toaccommodate only four peo-ple, including the driver,carries almost seven pas-sengers excluding the driv-

er. Four are squeezed in theback, which can accommo-date only three people andthe remaining three areseated, or rather they hangaround the driver's seat.

Of late, the auto rickshawdrivers have been comingup with new ideas to earnas much as they can in oneride. And for this they areready to stake not only theirlife but also the life of thepassengers. The drivershire more number of people;get them "stuck" in theirautos for a small amountof money. From each pas-senger he collects Rs 10,which finally comes up toaround Rs 70, thus givingthe auto driver a profit of 30to 40 bucks per ride.

They cleverly choose the

area which does not haveproper public transportand thus the general pub-lic, left with no choice, gofor the strenuous ride.Such fully loaded rides canbe seen on NH-24, fromNoida Sec to r 62 t oPatparganj, to HasanpurDepot, to Gazipur depot,to Mohan Nagar, to AnandVihar, towards Vaishaliand vice-versa.

One of the passengerscommuting from east Delhito Noida Sector 58 saidthat travelling throughthese sharing autos savestime as well as money. "Itake only half an hour toreach Noida, Sector 58,through this route whichwill otherwise take aroundone and a half hours. Also,

it costs me only Rs 20 forthe auto to reach my officeagainst Rs 35, which isquite a big amount foreveryday t rave l l ingexpense. A half an hourpain is better than losing somuch time and money,"says Bhavesh, a contentwriter working in Noida.

Ironically Ghaziabadpolice are constantly takingout drives and keeping aregular check on the autorickshaws but the result isunproductive. The trafficpolice admitted that suchillegal rides are on andhave also come up withseveral punishments. Theprovisions are that i fcaught once, the driver canbe let off with a warningand some fine. If caught for

more than two times, theauto rickshaw can be seizedand if caught more thanfive times, punishmentleading to cancelling thelicence can also be imposed.

"Almost a hundred autorickshaws are seized orwarned everyday and weare trying to solve theissue. But there are around18,000 three-wheelers inGhaziabad and not all ofthem can be checked alto-gether," says Anil Kumar,SP Traffic police. "Afterbeing caught, they come upwith their wife and kidsand plead for mercy. It isreally difficult to managethem," he added.

The auto drivers are veryblatant to such questionsand they have their own

pride in these illegal rides.When an auto driver ridingsuch a vehicle is questionedabout the ethics and legal-ity of driving, he verypompously comes backwi th an unexpec tedthought. "Nobody can doanything here. This is notillegal. If we stop carryingpassengers like you, youwill have to pay a largeamount of money to reachyour destination. It is forthe passengers we take somuch of pain," says RamJoseph, an auto rickshawdriver. In accordance withthe safety measure, too,these rides are risky andcan lead to loss of life andproperty. The small autorickshaw is a light vehicleand can easily toss andturn even by a small hit.Moreover, the auto driversride the autos so rashly asif they are flying airplanes.Thus, there needs to be acheck on the fully loaded,flying autos for the safetyof traffic rules and moreimportantly innocent lives.

—MEGHANA JAIN

Auto rickshaw is aninseparable part of Indiantransport. It is a commonman's vehicle and thuscannot be avoided. Butyour safety is in yourhand. If there are morethan three passengers (insome cities only two arepermitted), the drivermay agree to take you allfor an extra sum. Butbeware of the trafficpolice. You could be fined,or if lucky, let off if youfeign ignorance. But it'sbetter to take two rick-shaws or a taxi insteadas it's an uncomfortableride with more than threeadults. Sharing autosmay take less time andmoney, but it is nevermore important than yourown life. Always remem-ber precaution is betterthan cure. Take care!

Your safety isin your hand

Auto drivers in Ghaziabad taking rules for a ride

They squeeze in 6-7 passengers

Traffic rulesgone for a toss