The Dhanbad district administration has decided to restrict the number of auto rickshaws on city roads to get rid of perennial traffic jams. Out of the around 20,000 auto rickshaws registered with Dhanbad transport office here only 1700 would be permitted to enter the city area from September 20.
All those permitted to move in the city area would have a unique code issued by administration that necessarily would be mentioned on front and rear of the vehicle along with the route they have been allocated. Dhanbad deputy commissioner Sandeep Singh in an order also has made it mandatory that those driving the auto rickshaws must be in uniforms prescribed by the district administration or may face punitive action. In July a judge was killed when was knocked down by a speeding auto rickshaw and recently an editor of a vernacular daily was also knocked down and has sustained major injuries.
The new regulation may help both reduce traffic jams as well as reduce accidents due to auto.
Meanwhile , the auto drivers on Wednesday burnt copies of the order issued by district administration terming the decision as autocratic and against the interest of the drivers. The order would lead to unemployment or drivers that already have faced losses during the Covid-19 lockdown, they said.
