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FW: Blr Autos - Have you been taken for a ride lately?
Written By srinidhi - 1 July, 2010
Traffic Bangalore Autorickshaw Police Complaint Complaint Enforcement
Forwarding will help for all of us ... FYI Bangaloreans.
You are in a hurry to catch the train. You pack all your stuff and frantically run out in the hope of catching an auto. You come out and see 5 autos standing at the corner. You thank God and ask them - "Majestic chaloge kya??” The Answer is "Rs 200 hoga!!”. "Kya?? It just cost Rs 100 till Majestic". "Bahut rush hai sir!!". You move on to the next auto, to try your luck and surprisingly, you have the same conversation "Bahut rush hai sir!!". Finally you give up and bargain the price to Rs 170 and hope you don't miss your train.
Sounds more than familiar??
You stand on the road and keep on asking the passing autos for a ride to your destination - if it's not your day, the autos will not even bother to stop; if you're a bit lucky they might actually slow down to hear your destination' s name and think for a second( i always wonder if they are calculating their net profit) and then speed away. However if you are more lucky, the auto guy might actually quote you an exorbitant price and then speed away. But if it's your extremely lucky hour of the day, you might end up getting an auto which is ready to take you to the destination at meter price.
In my six years of existence in Bengaluru, these experiences have been really instrumental in teaching me great virtues - Patience and Tolerance. But at what price??? exorbitant rates, extremely rude behavior and what not ......
After years of feeling used, i set out to find the answer for this misery - was there no government system that could bring these auto guys to justice? As a citizen, how can i express my concern?
This search took me to the Koramangala RTO office (BDA complex) and to my surprise i found that there did exist a government system which i believe 99.99% of Bengaluru is unaware of !!
The System
Note the vehicle number (KA-XX-YY-ZZZZ) and email the details to transcom@kar. nic.in. Based on the prefix XX (for example KA-01), complaint will be sent to one of the ten RTO offices in Bangalore and adjacent taluk areas.
Alternatively, one can also call these offices at the number given below based on the vehicle number prefix and directly lodge a complaint.
Vehicle Prefix (KA-XX) Bangalore location Phone number
- KA-01 Koramangala 080-25533525
- KA-02 Rajajinagar 080-23324104
- KA-03 Indiranagar 080-25254310
- KA-04 Yeshwantpur 080-23376039
- KA-05 Jayanagar 080-26630989
- KA-41 Gyanabharthi 080-28602833
- KA-50 Yelahanka 080-28561366
- KA-51 Electronic City 080-25735522
- KA-52 NeelaMangala 08234-285598
- KA-53 KR Puram 080-25617951
Once the complaint is received at the corresponding office, a notice is issued to the address of the vehicle’s registered owner, requiring him/her to turn up at the RTO office within 7 working days. Every RTO has about 10 IMV’s (Inspector of Motor Vehicles) who seize the vehicles which don’t report to the RTO.
The penalty levied from the auto-waalas is rs.100 under section 200.
The various offences among others for which one can lodge a complaint
- Refusal to come to destination (Any destination! !!)
- Demanding excess fare
- Using rough language
- Cheat the public, for e.g. taking longer routes.
- Faulty Meter
There is also a helpline number - 080-22353785 available Monday – Saturday from 10:00 am - 5:30 pm on which one can call to lodge complaints.
The numbers speak for itself
I was shocked when I found that the Koramangala RTO office received only 5 complaints a month. With over 1,00,000 autos plying on Bangalore roads, shouldn’t it be like 5 complaints a minute?
What’s wrong with the system?
- Lack of Awareness among the Bangalore citizens
- The system is inefficient in data gathering- emails or phone calls cannot be stored and processed properly, leading to ineffective use of these complaint data.
- Converting these complaints into notices issued to vehicle owners is still a manual process
- Limited government officials to handle
So, will our impatience always have to take a backseat? Can something be done to improve/compliment the system to make it more effective? Will we get a better platform to raise our voices democratically?
COMMENTS
idontspam - 6 July, 2010 - 17:48
did not suggest that the free pricing in healthcare and education is right. Government interference is the only way to ensure fair accessibility IMO
What a bummer! Complete turnaround I must say, and a useless conclusion at that, comrade.
ss87 - 1 July, 2010 - 16:22
These things are happening quite frequently-people actually do not know where to complain or are busy with other works.
I have come across many such incidents in my life-once in the mid day I had to travel urgently from corporation to BTM Mico layout-though there were many autos everyone refused to come. Dejected I looked up to spot a volvo 365 coming towards me-waved my hand and the bus stopped next to me and I was corteously welcomed-and owing to lesser traffic I was taken to Mico layout in just 22 minutes from corporation via nimhans.
Well I was quite lucky to wait for an auto near the stop that i could get a bus-how many can be so lucky-It is good to have these numbers-I will use them next time when I fail to get an auto-thanks for the same
idontspam - 1 July, 2010 - 18:18
Can something be done to improve/compliment the system to make it more effective?
Yes and you just did it. Let people know such a thing exists.
You can bet it will be flooded if people knew about this. They may have to shut it down because ALL autos in Bangalore will be at the RTO doorstep
Basic issue: complainant is a trouble maker government attitude
mbnataraj - 2 July, 2010 - 22:38
The problem with Law enforcement as I see in Bangalore is lack of will and man power. Added to it is the stubborn refusal of the authorities to invite, encourage public participation in enforcement. They also exhibit a "complaint is a nuisance to smooth running of the concerned department and the complainant is a trouble maker".
I have made over 3000 traffic related complaints with date time and nature of violations to the dcp traffic, transport commissioner etc.
On various issues like underaged driving, road rule violations, cellphone use, musical horns, auto meter tampering, refusal to ply, overcharging, wheelies,parking violations etc.
There has been virtually no feed back on the action taken. and things continue the way they were. In a few cases, they -traffic police- got back to me with sob stories about how the higher ups threatened that if the SI could not solve my problem-meaning shut me up!- he could seek a transfer and go.
Naturally this creates a "What is the use of complaining" attitude in the complainants.
How do we handle this biased attitude of all the enforcement authorities?
I recall a cartoon where a complaint desk was staffed by a deaf mute staffer!
abidpqa - 6 July, 2010 - 17:43
@idontspam
I did not suggest that the free pricing in healthcare and education is right. Government interference is the only way to ensure fair accessibility IMO. I just said auto drivers may be having some grievences about the unjust prices they have to pay.
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