THE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Daltonganj, Dec 17: Following the intervention of Jharkhand Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore who called in the City Commissioner of the Medininagar Municipal Corporation Md Jawed Hussain to the Circuit House today to discuss the issue of the ongoing strike of the Autorickshaws in the town here, the administration rolled back its measures put in place earlier and asked the Autorickshaws to ply ensuring they don’t indulge in haphazard pick and drop causing inconvenience to the pedestrians and other vehicular traffic.
City Commissioner explains previous measures
Speaking to The Jharkhand Story correspondent Md Jawed Hussain said, “The measures that we had put in place had the consent of all the stakeholders prominently of the Autorickshaw men but they retracted to their own consent later on. They kept their Autorickshaws off the streets for days together. It was most surprising. They had consented to the measures first.”
“The measures were to have a segregation of Autorickshaws coming from the rural locations with the urban ones. The line was Autorickshaws coming from the rural areas would pass on its passengers to the urban Autorickshaws and back. It was simple. There was no loss of money. But it was resented much,” added the City Commissioner.
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Minister asks for broader discussion in January
Sources said Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore asked the City Commissioner to have a broader discussion over it in the coming January month and till then old practice with the Autorickshaws will be applicable but with a rider, there must not be any haphazard pick and drop as and where they like. The administration will go tough with such errant drivers of the Autorickshaws.
City Commissioner making it clear said, “Our plan is honest and sincere. It’s to keep city mobility unaffected. It is to negate jam. Such measures are in the larger interest of everyone. But such a hue and cry was unfortunate.”
Concerns over traffic congestion and legal violations
There are 4000 Autorickshaws and 3000 Toto read battery rickshaws. A fleet of 7000 such vehicles is enough to cause traffic snarls every hour.
City commissioner quipped “The town Medininagar has two round abouts, Chhoumuhan and Redma. These 7000 vehicles are to invariably negotiate it. Can anyone guess what kind of chaos will be there? And that chaos we wanted not to set in.”
Further below 18-year-old boys are driving Toto. It’s unlawful. They must shun driving reminded the City Commissioner.
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Underlying motive behind the strike
This correspondent did its investigation. The strike that was called in had an ulterior motive more than the segregation of the rural and urban Autorickshaws.
The ulterior motive was for the replacement of the traffic in-charge who comes from a particular community.
The entire wrath was directed against the traffic in-charge. However, the municipal corporation administration under the directive of the finance minister dealt with the situation aptly.
