Joint Transport Commissioner, Richard V D’Souza has issued an order to set up control rooms to register complaints against errant auto drivers in Bengaluru on a trial basis. The trial will last for two weeks starting December 6th, Monday.

The order notes that the complaints against autodrivers have been on the rise and the RTOs have been unable to take action against the auto owners in several cases. In earlier cases of complaints, RTO offficials found out that the autos involved had fake registrations and hence they couldn’t trace the owners. To counter this and ensure swift action, ten control rooms have been set up effective December 6th, across the city. These control rooms will be functional from 9 am to 6 pm till 18th December.

Each control room will have an information officer who will take down the details of the complaint and a vehicle inspector who will visit the spot and take care of the complaint. The RTOs will provide vehicles for these officers to ensure they reach on time. The vehicle inspector can file a police complaint if need be.

RTO’s initiative is partly in response to complaints on Auto Watch, a website where citizens are registering their complains about auto fares, faulty metres and other issues.

Sudha Nair, Project Community manager for Kiirti, which is behind the Auto Watch initiative is however not impressed. She says this initiative won’t work because control room numbers never work. "The control room guys will not have the meter checking devices and the powers to dispose the matter on the spot. Without these there would be delay and the complaints won’t get settled ultimately" she says.⊕