2,000 illegal autos on roads under Andheri RTO limits

MUMBAI : Under the jurisdiction of the Andheri Regional Transport Office (RTO), which stretches from Bandra to Jogeshwari, more than 2,000 autorickshaws were plying without permits till August 7 because of alleged lack of supervision by officials and embezzlement of online registration fees by middlemen.

This means that if such an auto meets with an accident, passengers will not be eligible for insurance.

The registration fee for an auto is ₹15,000, which is paid through a demand draft (DD). According to sources, the Andheri RTO has lost ₹3 crore owing to the goof-up.

Claiming that the number of autos without permits was 1,400 till August 7, regional transport officer Abhay Deshpande said some auto owners had not submitted DDS after registration.

State transport commissioner Shekhar Channe denied irregularities and loss of revenues.

According to the RTO rules, applicants, before buying autorickshaws, have to submit their documents to RTO.

After verifying documents, RTO issues letter of intent (LOI), which allows applicants to buy autorickshaws. Within six months of receiving LOI, owners must register their autos online with RTO.

Some owners of the illegal autos who have paid the registration fees through middlemen are unaware that their vehicles are without permits.

These middlemen have used a single DD to register various autorickshaws.

This was made possible owing to loopholes in the online registration system and alleged negligence by RTO officials.

The rest of the owners who applied for permits on their own are yet to pay the registration fees.

Since the state government lifted an embargo on issuing permits to autos and taxis last July, Andheri RTO has issued 22,875 Lois. As many as 17,756 autos had been registered till July. Of them, 14,898 of them were issued permits.

This means 2,858 vehicles were plying illegally till July 31. Deshpande said around 300 demand drafts bounced owing to technical error from banks. He said RTO was recovering registration fees through an ongoing dive.