No meters for any autorickshaws in Karimnagar district, the native of Minister for Transport Ponnam Prabhakar
Overloading of autos is a common menace and encroaching on all roads and causing traffic snarls is the order of the day in Karimnagar
Auto-wallahs fleecing commuters by charging exorbitantly as there are no meters
KARIMNAGAR, AUGUST 23, 2024: Thanks to the lethargy on the part of the RTA, Traffic police and MCK authorities, the unauthorised autorickshaw stands are proliferating in entire Karimnagar town like never before, hampering the movement of vehicles and pedestrians and causing traffic snarls and accidents.
An auto stand had come up at the busy Indira Chowk in the heart of Karimnagar town, where it states that ‘No parking for cars and bikes’, as if they had purchased the road or the government had allocated the site for them to occupy the busy road and convert it as its ‘adda’
Similarly, at the RTC bus station, the authorities had allocated the parking place inside the premises. But the auto-wallahs have set up five unauthorized auto-stands around the bus station complex causing serious traffic snarls. Recently, a new auto-stand board was erected by the auto drivers on the way towards the Prathima multiplex, encroaching on the busy road and causing traffic congestion.
Recently, the auto-drivers have erected an auto-stand sign board in front of the Collectorate, causing serious inconvenience to the people visiting the Collectorate and the road-users due to the narrow roads taken up by the MCK in the name of the Smart City project. The auto drivers have converted the road in front of the busy DCCB main office, in front of the Traffic Police, by converting the road into an auto stand at the in-gate and in front of ATM centre and also adjacent to the petrol filling station.
Come what may, the auto drivers are encroaching on every available road in the town and causing a nuisance as well as traffic snarls and accidents to other road-users due to their negligent driving. The autos have encroached on the road in front of the busy RTC bus station complex, Karimnagar DCCB, IT and BSNL offices, ZP office, Mancherial crossroads, Indira Chowk, Collectorate, Bhagathnagar and name any locality it’s free for the autos to convert the place into their auto stands illegally.
New auto-stands crop up overnight all along the roads and junctions in the city, but there is no supervision by the authorities concerned. Autorickshaws are often parked in two to three rows, blocking virtually half of the road at the RTC bus station complex towards Prathima multiplex, Karimnagar DCCB office and other locations in Karimnagar town and the Traffic police are negligent towards the adamant attitude of auto-wallahs.
Surprisingly, the auto-wallahs had even deployed some agents for the proper regulation of autos by deploying illegal ‘traffic agents’ wearing T-shirts. The MCK authorities, who claim Karimnagar City as a Smart City do not regulate illegal auto-stands.
Even after setting up an illegal auto-stand at the RTC bus stand on the way to Prathima multiplex, they park the vehicles at Peacock Hotel, ZP office, and RTC bus stand entrance and cause inconvenience to the road users. If questioned, the auto-wallahs behave so rudely that people complain. When this reporter tried to take a picture of the auto-stand at the Collectorate stand, an auto-wallah even threatened, why take the picture of the auto-stand. This is how they are reigning terror in the entire town.
Lok Satta Udyama Samstha leader KS Narayana questioned how the autos convert the already congested roads into their ‘auto stands’ illegally and cause inconvenience to other road users. What are the authorities doing when the autos blatantly flout the norms, he asked. He alleged that the Traffic police are concerned only about taking pictures of no-helmets, but they are neglecting their legitimate duties to stop the encroachment of roads by auto-wallahs.
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