RailEnquiry

The Delhi traffic police’s much-hyped plan to make pre-paid autos and taxis from the New Delhi railway station ply across Delhi and the national capital region (NCR) continues to remain a distant dream.The scheme has been delayed as the traffic police-run pre-paid booths do not have a fare chart for all areas in Delhi and the NCR.Last October, the Northern Railways’ Delhi division and the Delhi Traffic Police had jointly announced that all autorickshaws and taxis (excluding radio taxis) at the station would have to go pre-paid.The idea was to curb harassments of commuters at the hands of unscrupulous private auto and taxi operators.The project is still on paper as the pre-paid booths do not have updated fare charts for all locations.Admitting the need to update the database and include new locations in the fare chart before launching the service, traffic police officials said they need more time to prepare it.“A new fare chart needs to be prepared to make the project successful and we will definitely do this,” said Anil Shukla, additional commissioner of police (traffic).

Shukla, however, could not offer a time frame. Sources said it would take quite some time.

As per the previous plan, the Railways has already done its bit. “We have completed all infrastructure-related works required, including the creation of dedicated auto and taxi lanes on the Ajmeri Gate side,” said a senior northern railway official. “We will soon have a meeting with the traffic police to bring speed up the process.”

Auto and taxi drivers say the delay is forcing them to ply under the existing pre-paid system. This leads to losses as the pre-paid booth staff often issue slips for certain locations without knowing the exact distance, said Rajendra Soni, spokesperson of the Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh.