To decongest the overflowing traffic in the Millennium City, the auto-rickshaw drivers in the city have come forward to contribute in reducing the chaos outside Metro stations.
For the past one week, around 50-60 auto-rickshaw drivers and members of the Haryana Autorickshaw Chalak Sangh have taken up the issue to manage the movement of three-wheelers around the HUDA City Centre Metro station with the help of the traffic police. Some auto-rickshaw drivers have been made volunteers who checks if all the autos are parked in two rows in the service lanes around the station. They also ensure that no vehicle is parked on the main carriageway.
HUDA City Centre is the terminal station on the Huda-Jahangirpuri Metro line (yellow line). With thousands of commuters commuting through this station every day, it is a good spot for auto drivers to get passengers. These auto drivers mostly stand at the two gates of the station and hound commuters. The area around the gates is clogged with auto-rickshaws all the time, causing major chaos on the road.
Last week, the union of the auto-rickshaw drivers met with Navdeep Singh Virk, and decided to take up the responsibility of solving the issue of traffic congestion around the Metro station.
The union, along with 2,600 auto-rickshaw drivers is now making sure that the area is not clogged due to the parking of the autos.
“At any given point, around 20 volunteers are there to help manage the traffic around the station. These drivers do not let any vehicle stand on the road outside the Metro station,” a spokesperson of the union said.
The union has also decided to make sure that all drivers undergo police verification and is making the drivers fill police verification and identity forms. These forms will be given to the local police and any driver who is not verified will not be allowed to drive in the city.