Telangana Auto Drivers Joint Action Committee (TADJAC), has demanded the government to extend by three months the time for meter recalibration. The TADJAC threatened that they would organize Auto-strike from November 20, if it fails to do so.
Speaking to media persons here today, Mohd. Amaanullah Khan, convenor, TADJAC, demanded the government to stop corrupt activities of the Weights and Measures department officials along with the meter dealers who are troubling the auto men by charging high rate of Rs. 250 instead of Rs.100 for calibration. He said that the installation of IC-chip in to the meter would cost only Rs. 28/-, where as the auto men are asked to pay more than Rs. 200/- on each meter.
He expressed anguish that as the deadline fixed by the government for recalibration would end by 19th of this month and the special drive from 20th November, was decided without seeking the opinions of the union side. He criticized the false statement of Mr. A.C. Swamy, the commissioner of Weights and Measures on the availability I C chips in the markets. He alleged that about 30,000 autos, out of 77,000 autos, are moving without fixing any meters and are running on the roads as sharing autos and they were not registered in government records. He added that such sharing autos without meters are subjected to penalty (in the form of ‘mamools’) by the traffic police.
The press meet was attended by J. Ravinder, M.A. Saleem and other union leaders (NSS).