Rickshaw drivers demand authorization of rickshaw stands in city

Rickshaw drivers demand authorization of rickshaw stands in city

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Nov 17, 2011: The auto rickshaw drivers and owners of Mangalore organized a protest in front of the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) building today demanding that the civic body should authorize auto rickshaw stands.

Delivering the protest address on the occasion, B. Vishnumurthy, the secretary of the association, said that the lives of auto rickshaw drivers have become difficult because of frequent hike in fuel rates. Regarding unauthorized rickshaw stands in the city, he said that MCC has more than 350 auto rickshaw stands within its jurisdiction, but has authorized only 69 of them.

 

 

 

Stating that former CM B. S. Yeddyurappa had sanctioned a sum of Rs. 100 crore to the MCC at the Jan Sampark Meeting held in the auditorium of Karnataka Bank, in the presence of district administration officials, traffic police officers, and others, to register auto rickshaw stands within the city, Mr. Vishnumurthy complained that no work has been done so far.

The MCC has also ignored all the memorandums submitted to it so far, he alleged. He also pointed out that the MCC has concretized only 100kms of the total 900kms within its jurisdiction. Complaining about the pathetic condition of the roads, he said that the roads have not been repaired after the monsoons and urged the civic body to start the repair work at the earliest. He warned that the association will hold stronger protests if the roads are not repaired.

Ashok Kumar Shetty, the member of the Janatha Auto Rickshaw Owners’ and Drivers’ Association; Yasin Kudroli, the member of the Minorities Auto Rickshaw Owners’ and Drivers’ Association; Abubakker Suratkal, the member of the Suratkal Auto Rickshaw Owners and Drivers Association; Arun Kumar, the member of the rickshaw unit of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike; and Prakash V. N. of DK Auto Rickshaw Drivers Association also participated in the protest.