Agartala, Sept 19 (TIWN):For last one week, transport department took the streets against auto – rickshaws charging more fare. Surprisingly, traffic police is least interest reportedly not cooperating with the transport department initative. They are not doing any to stop the drivers from charging more fares from passengers.

To stop “dadagiri” of auto drivers in July issued notification for implementation of point to point fare. But the errant drivers charged fare according to their wish transport department did not take any initiatives to stop.

At last from last week the department rose to action. Complaint was registered against 54 auto – rickshaws  for violating government notification.At least permit of  15  autos and license of drivers was suspended for three months after inquiry.   The suspended autos cannot ply in routes.The joint transport commissioner of the department, Ashim Saha is leading the team.    

It Is mentionable here that the High Court’s Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Subhasish Talapatra has directed to install point-to-point fares along auto-permits. Alongwith this, the Court has asked the State Government of Tripura to allot distinct uniforms and badges to auto-owners.

Though the State Government and Transport department partially complied with other directions of the Court, yet the ‘point-to-point fares’ dictum was flouted. Thus, a ‘Contempt of Court’ case was filed against both the State Government and the Transport department.

   There is practically no bus service in Agartala and other major towns of the state, making people dependent on autos and other small vehicles. The drivers do not follow the fare chart fixed by the state transport department and often fleece passengers.