| Auto-rickshaws
in Delhi: Murder by Regulation
Danish Faruqui & Raghav Sud
According to the deputy directors, transport department, Buradi,
about 80,000 autos were plying on Delhi roads before March 2001.
Then came the ruling of the Supreme Court of India and accordingly
all autos had to be converted to CNG. Although this might fare well
for the environment of Delhi, but as far as the auto- rickshaw driver
is concerned this ruling has spelt despair right from the start.
As an approximation, there are just over 20,000 autos currently
on the road. Moreover the government has decided not to issue any
new permits.
To understand this, it would be easier to go by the vehicle license
numbers of autos. Initially there was DLR, then DHR, DIR, DAR, DL1R,
DL1RA and DL1RB. These were the autos that were licensed before
1992. Then came DL1RC and DL1RD. According to the Supreme Court
ruling, autos older than 8 years would have to be scrapped. They
would be replaced by DL1RE/F. The DL1RC/D series would have to be
converted to CNG.
The procedure for autos older than 8 years involves P1, P2, P3,
and P4. But this does not paint a rosy picture of a Silicon Valley
at every STA (State Transport Authority) office. The above mentioned
are simply the names of various government files.
If our much-fooled "common man" decides to run an auto-rickshaw,
he has to wait for months to do so--even after he has all his resources
lined up (including the amount he needs to pay bribes). To understand
the plight of this "common man", we spoke to "Shri Duttaram
Choudhary", who until recently was running his own auto. His
auto was too old and he had to apply for a new vehicle.
Steps 1: Getting the clearances
Three different No Objection Certificates (NOCs) are required from
the traffic department. First the applicant must go to Teen Murti
and clear all pending traffic "chalans" (fines). Next
there is the enigmatic 5 no. authority which clears pending "chalans"
concerning insurance, pollution, license, uniforms, etc. Finally
the road tax clearance from the STA. All this can take from a week
to even more than a month.
Step 2: A trip to Buradi, New Delhi 84
Going to one of the private "dalals" (touts) sitting
outside the STA and paying him Rs.80 would get the applicant's file
P1 into the government office. A P1 is a file containing the complete
records of the older vehicle that is being surrendered. It includes
documents relating to permit, road registration certificate, insurance
clearance, the three NOCs, four photographs, etc. Once the applicant
submits the P1, he gets the P2, which gives the date when he is
expected to come next to have his P1 checked. All this with the
help of the "dalal" should ideally take just one day.
Step 3: Checking the P1
The P1 is checked and the information compared with the original
documents of the vehicle--that were filed when the old vehicle was
first cleared. The applicant should consider himself lucky if these
are ever found. This can take a month or more depending on the "efficiency"
of the various officers.
Step 4: Yet another trip to Buradi
Once the applicants' files have been checked, he gets a P3. That
takes him to the Mundka STA with a photocopy of the P3 and his old
vehicle. There his vehicle is surrendered, scrapped (even for that
bribe has to be paid) and he is paid Rs.1100/- for it (incidentally
the government receives around Rs. 2000/- for the scrap). A stamp
saying "received" is put on the P3. Then he is told to visit the
place again. All this might take a couple of weeks or so.
Step 5: Issuing a P4
A P4 is finally issued, which signifies that all paper work till
P3 has been duly completed. The issue of P4 might take a month or
more.
Step 6: The new auto
The applicant takes the P4 to an "authorized distributor," makes
the payment for the new auto and also submits the insurance papers
(having got insurance worth Rs. 1500). Getting the new vehicle could
take from a day to a month depending upon how much the applicant
is ready to bribe.
Step 7: Still more
The auto's meter has to be passed (Rs. 300), pollution verification
done (Rs. 30), and fitness certified (Rs. 80) all at god's own land--Buradi.
A file, via the private "dalals" at Buradi, is made which
is similar to the P1. All this would take another 15-20 days.
As for the autos that have to be converted to CNG, it’s a totally
different story. They had a deadline of March 31st to
obtain permission from the Supreme Court. The auto-rickshaw drivers
accordingly submitted the "Form of application for grant of permission
to concert the existing from petrol fuel into CNG fuel operation
with petrol tank of three litres capacity in view of the orders
of the Honorable Supreme Court of India, New Delhi." This form
would have to be attested by an approved Notary of the Government
of India. Then the applicant has to take this form to an "Authorized
Fitting Centre." An advance amount would have to be paid to
the AFC. The AFC will then issue a receipt that has to be submitted
along with the form of application to the State Transport Authority.
The STA would then give a receipt stating that all formalities have
been completed and call the owner at a future date when he would
be issued a special permit in accordance with the orders of the
Supreme Court. Once this special permit is issued then within six
months the auto-rickshaw driver would have to get the CNG kit fitted.
To find out the ground realities we decided to make a trip to the
STA (State Transport Authority) at Rajpur Road. Outside the building
there were some inquiry offices. A glance into the first one found
this gentleman reclining on the couch. He dismissed us with a wave
and a yawn. So we go to the other window where the gentleman sitting
seemed to be doing nothing important again—talking on the telephone.
For a change, he actually invited us inside. We told him that we
wanted information on autos and he directed us to a Mr. G S Chaturvedi.
Mr. Chaturvedi, however, was too high ranking an officer to know
anything about anything or so his secretary told us. We were then
directed to Mr. P C Chaturvedi. He was too busy lying back relaxing
in his chair and told us that the information we wanted was with
two gentlemen across the hall. In the next room we found Mr. Verma.
Hallelujah! Mr. Verma was sitting with a few rather swarthy looking
friends which would have been all right had they no grudge against
Mr. P C Chaturvedi who had directed us there. So back to square
one.
Since no one was inclined to talk to us, we decided to go back
to the street and learn a few more things from our friends the temporarily
(??!!) unemployed auto-rickshaw drivers of Delhi.
Problems were plenty. The "issue of the special permit"
was not being done on some pretext or the other ranging from misplaced
files to "incomplete files"—all these the responsibilities
of the authorities. In many cases the auto drivers had been "chalaned"
on the road for upto Rs. 5000 on the pretext of them plying without
proper permission. A certain Mr. Sonu was told that although his
document had been stamped by the Supreme Court and subsequently
by the STA, yet he could not be issued the temporary permit because
his receipt number was not in the computer. He had proceeded to
file an affidavit with the Supreme Court, but was told there that
all his documents had been forwarded to the STA. However, at the
time we spoke to him, it had been three months since he had stopped
plying his auto and although he had been making daily trips to the
authority, no end seemed to be in sight. He was being told every
time that some advertisement would be taken out in the newspapers,
which would tell him the relevant dates.
Another interesting thing that we saw was that even those autos
which were off the road, i.e., the ones older than 8 years, were
still paying road tax of Rs. 93 for the period of April to June.
According to sources, there were 30,000 such autos at the time of
our survey. That seemed to be a colossal amount of unfair taxation.
There were auto-rickshaw drivers who had been waiting for a month
or more just to get their road tax clearance done.
The more we got to hear about Buradi, the more we were intrigued
by it. So we took another trip. The transport department in Buradi
was housed in a giant enclosure. We moved to the first of the sheds
in our quest for Mr. Aggarwal who had been referred to us by an
officer at the STA. He, of course, could not be found. So we moved
on to a newer looking building, which according to the sign outside
housed the traffic court. Inside, there were three windows opened
to the auto-rickshaw drivers for collection and handing out of papers.
We were told that it was only after every several days that there
would actually be more than one window open. In fact the previous
day, there had been a riot and a "lathi charge" as tempers
had boiled over. We found a group of auto-rickshaw drivers banging
on a particular door. On inquiry we were told that that was where
the auto-rickshaw drivers would have to come to find all their "lost"
P2s and P3s. Suddenly the door opened a fraction. What was happening
was that the man inside (a certain Mr. Satish) was procuring Rs.
200 per file which he would then proceed to declare as found!
Finally we were able to trace Mr. Aggarwal. Talking to him we found
out a few more things about autos in Delhi. Auto-rickshaws required
annual fitness checks (Ironically that had nothing to do fitness
at all, all that was checked w as the chassis no. and engine no.).
Meter fitness, pollution levels were also checked once a year. An
auto-rickshaw driver was required to carry nine essentials with
him all the time while plying the vehicle. Those were: Registration
Certificate, Driving License, Pollution Certificate, Meter Fitness
Certificate, Insurance Papers, Road Tax Clearance, Badge & Helper's
Certificate (in case he was running the auto-rickshaw for someone
else). Surprisingly, he also had to be dressed in a prescribed uniform.
Conclusions we draw and questions we would like
answered
- Why is such an elaborate system required to approve AR's, especially
in the case of the P's 1-4 that one has to file for the older
vehicle. When all the government is going to do is give out Rs.
1100 for the surrendered vehicle, is it really important to go
through that entire procedure?
- The procedure has worked in the past only because at any given
point of time there weren't too many autos awaiting license. The
inefficiency is coming to light now when suddenly there are a
huge number of autos needing approval. So is it that the procedure
system is unnecessarily long or is it that the Supreme Court is
unaware of the long procedure, that it expects all 80,000 autos
to be through the process and on the road in reasonably quick
time?
- One mistake that the Court seems to have made is ignoring the
personal problems of the auto-rickshaw drivers. Today they are
paying installments on the machines, they are paying installments
on the CNG kits, they are paying "dalals", they are
paying bribes to officials and they are paying road tax, insurance,
etc. They are not earning a penny while standing in queues outside
government offices. Ominous warnings are being issued. The patience
of these men is running out. The autos that are their means of
livelihood are currently not contributing anything to their income
and only drawing down their resources.
- The root of all these problems, we feel, is the government-controlled
system which links the market for permits with the market for
autos. The system is such that if an individual wishes to trade
an auto he has to trade the permit along with it. Given the fact
that no new permits are being issued, the whole procedure becomes
even more complicated. In case a person wishes to purchase an
auto, he has to buy an old auto with an existing permit. This
can be an auto older than 8 years, which means he will have to
surrender it and then get a new auto. Or it could be a newer auto,
which means he will have to get it converted to CNG. In case one
wishes to sell the auto outside Delhi, it will require an additional
NOC from the transport authority.
We suggest that the market for auto permits should be freed. This
could be on the lines of the medallion system prevalent with cabs
in New York where the drivers are allowed to trade medallions (these
are licenses to ply taxis, which are fixed in number). This would
not only give a freer hand to the drivers but also reduce unnecessary
government interference. Also, we should free the market for the
machines themselves so that the auto-rickshaw driver can sell his
vehicle to anyone anywhere. He could thus obtain a competitive price
for his vehicle and not necessarily sell it as scrap to the government.
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