Juhu-Andheri residents complain of share auto menace
Andheri west railway station, which connects to Juhu beach and ISKCON temple, regularly sees a heavy presence of auto drivers trying to lure tourists who come to visit these spots, flouting traffic and RTO norms, and engaging in rash driving. Residents living near ISKCON temple said that lack of footpaths and rash driving by auto drivers have led to an increase in accidents in the past few months
Mumbai: Many residents have complained of an increasing share autorickshaw menace in Andheri and Juhu.
Andheri west railway station, which connects to Juhu beach and ISKCON temple, regularly sees a heavy presence of auto drivers trying to lure tourists who come to visit these spots, flouting traffic and RTO norms, and engaging in rash driving. Residents living near ISKCON temple said that lack of footpaths and rash driving by auto drivers have led to an increase in accidents in the past few months.
Kiron Gokel, 72, a local, had suffered three hairline fractures after she was dashed by a car while she was in the second lane of the road as autos had blocked the already narrow road near the temple.
Gokel, who was injured on January 29, said she had to be in bed for more than a month. “We have to walk on the road because there is no footpath on the side of the road where my building is. At the time of the incident, autos had blocked the already narrow road and I had to walk on the second lane when a car dashed me.” “I am now even scared to move out of the home,” she said.
Another resident, Leela Krishnamurthy, complained that an auto ran over her foot a few weeks back.
“I wanted to cross the road and was waiting for the auto to pass, but suddenly, the vehicle ran over my foot and sped away. Just because there is no control on rash driving by these autos, we end up doing rounds of hospital,” she added.
Besides, rickshaw drivers are packing in extra passengers, beyond the capacity of three, putting everyone’s life at risk.
Sunil Menon, another resident, said, “These autos take four to five passengers during weekends, flouting all norms. They do not even allow other autos to charge passengers as per the meter. They change their prices as per the rush hours.” Menon said that these autos charge anywhere between ₹30 and ₹40 per seat from ISKCON temple to Andheri station.
“Ferrying a fourth passenger in an auto can be dangerous. Auto drivers are putting the lives of commuters at risk on roads filled with potholes,” Raj Tilak Roushan, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), said.
In 2022, the traffic police had issued e-challans to 45,000 auto and taxi drivers for carrying excess passengers. Traffic police officials said that not only were offenders being fined ranging from ₹500 to ₹2,200, depending on the nature of the violation, in case of repeat offenders, their vehicles too were being confiscated. The violators are being booked under section 179 of the Motor Vehicles Act if found ferrying more than the permitted number of passengers.
A senior official from Andheri RTO said, “We are studying locations where illegal share autos are operating but will specifically look in Juhu.”
Another citizen shared the same problem on SV Road in Andheri. “The route towards Juhu circle and Juhu beach usually sees heavy rush, so whenever the bus stop has a long queue, the share auto drivers try to get passengers, blocking multiple lanes on the road. These auto drivers are never in uniform and drive rashly, while carrying extra passengers.”
“These autos pass through three to four important junctions like Gokhale bridge signal, where there is a traffic chowki, Juhu Circle and JVPD circle, yet they are never caught by the traffic police. Once in six months, the RTO will conduct a drive and autos will be off the road for a few hours and then the situation will be back to the same” he added.
(Inputs from Megha Sood and Shashank Rao)
