Gurugram: The city residents will soon have a network of prepaid auto rickshaw booths across the city to access auto rides for easy and safe transportation, officials said on Saturday adding that the primary locations of these booths will be the metro stations to provide the commuters a smooth and hassle-free ride to their destination.
Officials said that the Gurugram police commissioner Vikas Kumar Arora presided over a multi-departmental meeting on Friday in which he issued directions to launch the prepaid facility at Iffco Chowk.
“After the success of the trial, the booth services will be extended to the other planned locations as well. The facility is aimed at providing better services to the commuters,” said Arora.
Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (traffic east) Sanjay Kumar said that the booth on trial basis will start functioning at the Iffco chowk within 10 days.
“We have held meetings with the auto rickshaw unions. A police constable and a union representative will be at the booths to operate it,” said ACP Kumar.
The ACP also said that there will be a fixed fare chart for the various routes and passengers will have to pay according to it.
“This booth service will also end the disparity in auto rickshaw fares which could not be fixed in the city yet even after multiple attempts over the last several years. It will also ensure safety and security of passengers especially women in case of late light commuting,” said ACP Kumar, adding that additional booths will be afterward made operational at metro stations like Sikanderpur, MG Road, Millenium City Centre and other parts of the city too.
Prince Arora, a resident of Sector 15, said it’s a welcome step as all major cities have such booths and a fixed meter-based fare system which Gurugram still doesn’t have.
“Several years back, authorities had started this booth facility near MG Road metro station but it later got shut. I hope this time, they continue and expand it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ACP also directed the regional transport authority officials to install signages to make everyone aware that e-rickshaws are only permitted to operate on link roads and not on crucial roads like Sohna road, Delhi-Jaipur Expressway and a few others in the city.
Officials said that e-rickshaws are a major cause of traffic jams and accidents on main roads as its drivers move in a haphazard manner risking the lives of the passengers too. They said an e-rickshaw will reach on the main road only to drop passengers at a key location like a metro station and then will have to return into the link road again.
Besides, Arora also directed the officials in the meeting to rope in the administration of the major schools for deploying traffic marshals outside their premises where the vehicular pressure is immense and cause snarls during drop and pickup time of students.
Arora also reviewed the eight green corridors created across the city where vehicles maintaining speed of 40kmph will not have to stop at red signals.
These signals, installed by the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), are under Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS) and manned by a traffic police team. Officials said Iffco chowk Metro station to Z-chowk, Bakhtawar Chowk to Kanhai T-point, World Spa to Jalvayu Vihar in Sector 31, DLF Phase-V to Kanhai chowk, Kanhai village to Good Earth mall, Wazirabad to Hong Kong market, Paras trinity to Rambagh chowk and Tighra to Sector 70 are the stretches on which the green corridors have been made functional.
The ACP also directed officials to install crash barriers at all intersections across the city and free the lanes for taking left turns easily after getting roads repaired through concerned agencies wherever required.
Arora also directed officials to further strengthen the drink and drive checking by continuously changing its location every time and crackdown on those drivers and owners by imposing fines who are found moving with black films and without high security registration plates to ensure a safe environment in the city.