Getting an auto driver punished.

The following is an incident that I wrote out on a mailing list in the office...EGL & GE are two office locations..the names of 3 colleagues mentioned in the mail have been changed to initials.

It so happened a few days ago that three hopeful players stepped out for a ride to EGL from GE to participate in the ISL sports carrom competition. No sooner had they reached Airport rd they were snubbed by many a rickshaw driver. So one of them finally said to a rickshaw driver that it is not legal to refuse a ride to a passenger. We ll not get into the debate whether this legality is right or wrong...but hardly had he said that he got an answer back. And when he argued some more uttering a word or two like "police complaint" etc he started getting a mouthful of choiciest abuses. Of course he did not hold back either :) However things soon took a "regional" turn and stuff like "you people should not be allowed in Karanataka" etc were heard :)..however it ended there and the three took another rick and reached EGL. They won their matches and started back soon. They caught another rick just outside IBM gates and consequently the rick had to go towards Koramangala to take a U turn..so they deliberated in the rick that they should have walked out on to the road and then boarded a rick..in the meanwhile they were also looking at the meter to estimate what this wrong decision had costed them...around the time that the rick had taken a U turn and reached back in front of DELL the meter showed 12.50 Rs. Then there was some more banter and the auto reached the Airport Rd flyover. On the climb one of the three happened to look at the meter that had by now morphed into a meter on steroids..it had run up a whopping 31 Rs on it..yes..a distance of about 1/2 a km from DELL to the flyover and a jump in the fare from 12.5 to 31..so puzzled they brought it to the attention of the auto driver who stopped by the side and soon the second argument of the day with an auto driver started.

Words were exchanged and even though they were in different languages the overall gist was that the driver was unwilling to accept that the meter was faulty and demanded the excess fare. This time the three decided that they would take the matter to a logical conclusion even if it meant investing a significant amount of time. So they refused to pay and asked him to take the auto to a police station of traffic police..of course this demand was futile since he did not agree. So the search started for a traffic police. One guy went till DELL then till airport road..no success. Then they called up the office and retrieved the number of Airport Rd police station and called up. The request for a policeman to be sent to the scene was met with the usual responses.."not our jurisdiction".."call traffic police, we only handle law and order" etc. On arguing that this was a law and order situation since there was a dispute and the auto driver was bent on abusing and threatening physical violence, some feeble promises were made to send a policeman and it ended there. Thirty minutes and another phone call later the impasse continued since there was no sight of the police. Then there was one traffic cop on a bike and all three waved in all joy only to be ignored..the cop drove on. Seeing that the three are really determined to get the police the auto guy started his vehicle and was about to go away. His good bye style included a long sentence with abuses in his native language and finally a "thoo" on one of them. Instinctively the chosen one spat back in reply :) ... he was amazed at his own de-generation, but it prompted the driver to stop the rick and start abusing again. In the meanwhile one of the three pulled out the keys from the ignition and kept it in his pocket. This ensured that the battle would continue.

Things cooled down a bit and after some more calls they got the number of the traffic police control room. One of them explained the situation and was assured that a cop would be on the way soon. There was some more waiting and some feeling that this too was a futile exercise. A call again to the control room and they were informed that a cop was just 2 mins away. And then the much awaited moment arrived with the cop. He took a stock of the situation and then informed us that this is not his jurisdiction and he would leave...this almost took away all the hope but they were assured that the right cop would be there soon. So some more waiting and then came the right guy..guess what..this was the same cop that they had waved too like monkeys just a while back!!! So he came and stopped gave a few excuses for having ignored them earlier and soon took asked the auto to get off the flyover and onto the side of the road near EGL. Once there there were some paper checks etc and then finally the driver was fined 200 Rs. The two hours invested by the three finally bore some fruit.

Not wanting to fight another auto driver after that, they went off walking all the way to GE after this :D

And for people who like the moral of a story to be stated explicitly...
1) If citizens actually "invest time and effort" to fight back against exploitation things can improve. It is futile to lie down and complain..we are a part of the society and we have to play our part in it.
2) Being in a group helps. Had it been just one of us it would probably have resulted in physical violence.
3) When you notice a faulty meter do not stop at arbitraty locations. Let the auto drive to a signal where a traffic police can be easily approached. Will probably save a lot of time.

Protagonists: AY, NS, Neeraj Bhope. Supporting role: SN (For providing the Airport Rd police station number)

Number for the traffic police control room that actually responded and resulted in some action being taken: 08022943131. Next time this happens to you use this. Also since most of us now have camera phones we can photograph the permit plates in the auto that has all the details of the driver and also record a video in some cases as supporting evidence.