Autos convert every road and traffic junction into their ‘adda’ (auto stand) illegally and cause traffic snarls
Overloading of autos is a common menace, and encroaching on all roads and causing traffic snarls is the order of the day in Karimnagar
No drunken driving tests for autorickshaw drivers or removal of an additional seat beside the driver’s seat in an auto
KARIMNAGAR, NOVEMBER 23, 2024: Why do Karimnagar Traffic police only catch two-wheelers at random check on the pretext of no helmet, no number plate etc, but not auto-rickshaws, who blatantly flout the norms and cause serious traffic snarls and accidents in Karimnagar town?
In the small city of Karimnagar town with a radius of 5 kilometres, the Traffic police often harass the two-wheelers by stopping and conducting checks for helmets, no number plates and other registration papers. On the other hand, the auto-rickshaws, who are the traffic menace, are made to go scot-free and reign terror on the roads.
Thanks to the lethargy on the part of the RTA, Traffic and MCK authorities, the unauthorised autorickshaw stands are proliferating in Karimnagar town like never before, hampering the movement of vehicles and pedestrians and causing traffic snarls and accidents.
An apt example is the RTC bus station area, where there are five unauthorized auto-stands with the alleged blessings of the Traffic police. Incidentally, the Traffic police had set up a Traffic booth at the RTC bus station area, wherein the cops remain a mute spectators when the autos reign terror at the junction with illegal parking and haphazard movements. Instead of removing illegal auto-stands, the Traffic police are helping the autos by providing them with traffic stoppers.
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.
Come what may, the auto drivers are encroaching on every available road in the town and causing a nuisance as well as causing traffic snarls and accidents to other road-users due to their negligent driving. The autos have encroached the road in front of the busy RTC bus station complex, Karimnagar DCCB, Income tax and BSNL offices, ZP office, Mancherial crossroads, Indira Chowk, Doctor street, Tower circle, Venkateshwara Swamy temple, 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 on the road, 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 to the at 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’ by wearing T shirt. The MCK authorities who claim the Karimnagar City as 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 the 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.
Incidentally, the Karimnagar district, the native of Minister for Transport Ponnam Prabhakar, who encouraged local buses when he was Karimnagar MP in 2009 to 2014, remained tight-lipped on the reintroduction of local buses for the benefit of the commuters. The Karimnagar town, which has grown into Smart City and Municipal Corporation and now ruling party leaders are planning to convert it into the Greater Municipal Corporation of Karimnagar, has no concern about the installation of meters for autos and check overloading and exploitation of commuters with heavy charges.
