Bhopal: Autorickshaw drivers oppose confiscation drive, stage half-naked protest

Bhopal: The members of autorickshaw union staged protest half-naked in front of the regional transport office behind Mansarovar complex here on Tuesday.

They said that the pandemic has affected their livelihood and they have failed to bring their earnings back to pre-pandemic level.

“Now, if the administration will confiscate our autos only for us to retrieve them from the court, we will be left with no source of earning. We won’t be able to run our households,” they added.

Earlier, the division bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and justice Vijay Kumar Shukla had ordered state transport department to implement Central Motor Vehicle Amendment Rules, 2019, within 45 days, during a hearing last Wednesday.

As per amendment, the autorickshaw drivers riding vehicles without either permit, fitness certificate or other required documents are being detained in the state, regional transport officer Sanjay Tiwari told Free Press.

Their autorickshaws were confiscated. “Drivers and owners will have to pay fine in the court and get their permits made to get back their vehicles,” he added.

“The department will set up camps across the state to ease the process of getting the permits and other required documents made as per the instructions from transport commissioner Mukesh Jain soon. There is a separate window at RTO to get their work done,” he added.

Transport inspectors ran a check drive at ISBT, Govindpura, Ratibad and Halalpur Bus stand on Tuesday and confiscated autorickshaws running without permit and relevant documents.

About 200 autorickshaws have been confiscated by the officials after the HC’s ruling and their cases have been filed in the court.

Advocate as patron

The autorickshaw drivers have appointed High Court advocate Praveen Pandey as their patron. Pandey said he will plead their case in High Court for free. The president of state auto-drivers’ association Vijay Sahu handed over the application to Pandey on Monday evening for the same.