Rly prepaid rickshaw service winds up
Revived by an agency run by an IIM-A graduate last November, the service was terminated following ‘lack of co-operation from cops’
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 02:43:42 AM (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=2009021720090217024342299e8f132b2)
The prepaid rickshaw service, that was launched at Ahmedabad Railway Station amid all the hype and hoopla on November 10 last year, has wrapped up its operations, succumbing to the monopoly of local rickshawallahs who are better
off plying without meter.
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 02:43:42 AM (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=2009021720090217024342299e8f132b2)
The prepaid rickshaw service, that was launched at Ahmedabad Railway Station amid all the hype and hoopla on November 10 last year, has wrapped up its operations, succumbing to the monopoly of local rickshawallahs who are better
off plying without meter.Nirmal Foundation, an agency established by an IIM-A graduate Nirmal Kumar, had tried reviving the prepaid rickshaw project after the RTO failed to implement it almost three years ago, due to similar reasons.Kumar’s plan, that offered prepaid rickshaw service to passengers at only Rs 2 service charge and fares decided by the RTO, was approved by the Railways last year.But the execution gave this IIMite a nightmare.
“The prepaid rickshawallahs were up in the arms saying they were getting less money as per the RTO-approved fare chart. Also, it was quite unorganised because the Railway Police Force and Government Railway Police did not fully support us,” he says. As per procedure, passengers are supposed to collect their prepaid slips from a booth at the premises and then board a prepaid auto. The Railway police is supposed to ensure the operations are smooth and that there is no malpractice. “However, since the past 15 days, the autowallahs started ignoring the prepaid booth, directly picking up passengers from the station and charging their own rates.
What is the need for a prepaid booth then?” he asks.The agency, which had a three-month contract with the Railways, chose not to renew it because of such operational difficulties.Sources say, as per rules, rickshawallahs cannot pick up passengers from the main building. They have to line up in front of the prepaid booth near the parking lot. But now, flouting all the rules, they reach the entrance of the building to pick up passengers as cops look on. Some of them buy the platform ticket and woo passengers alighting the trains.
Some even get a Rs 2 Ahmedabad-Maninagar ticket so that they can roam around on the platform till 12 midnight since a platform ticket is valid only for three hours. “Everything is visible on CCTV camera, but the Railways is blind to it,” another source said. Kumar is clearly disappointed. “Not only did we get not receive co-operation from law enforcers, even the Railways never made any effort to make known that such service was available,” he said.
DRM Rajiv Misra said, “There was some problem with the co-ordination between the agency, the police force and the rickshawallahs. The system was quite good. It is unfortunate that people are unable to gain benefit out of it. The rickshawallahs always had problems with the fare chart of the prepaid service.”
