Bid to streamline movement of vehicles in Tinsukia

From our Correspondent

TINSUKIA, March 9: Traffic in Tinsukia is likely to improve in a month with DTO and police jointly formulating a strategy to streamline movement of vehicles, particularly auto-rickshaws.

While the newly-joined DTO Syed Rafiqul Mann is bent on curbing goodaraj of auto rickshaw owners, Tinsukia streets are turning into highly accident-prone areas during peak hours. With more than 300 auto rickshaws plying on the road in Tinsukia town having a capacity of just 50-75, the former DTO according to a source had allegedly committed to provide license to another 1,000 auto-rickshaws in the district to the license seekers prior to his departure. This situation has put the present DTO in an embarrassing situation, said a source.

Talking to The Sentinel, DTO Mann said, he had stopped issuing fresh license to auto-rickshaws and renewal of licenses registered in galand and other places which already had caused resentment. He persolly monitored the high-handedness of erring auto-rickshaw drivers. Mann pointed out that majority of the auto vehicles were without valid documents, besides they did not conform to the safety guidelines, adding that he would present a fact picture to the Deputy Commissioner within a month about the deplorable scerio and would seek his intervention. When asked about e-rickshaws, Mann informed that as per Surface Transport Ministry’s guidelines, most of the e-rickshaws that were plying now were illegal and could not be registered as these were simply assembled in India and manufactured in other countries. He anticipated that the e-rickshaws in near future would create more traffic chaos in Tinsukia town.