Siliguri: Auto driver assaulted by toto driver

: A city auto driver was allegedly beaten up by toto drivers in the Champasari area of Siliguri.

Auto drivers of Siliguri staged a protest against the incident by suspending auto movements in the city.

They parked the autos on two sides of Hill Cart Road in protest.

Ujjal Kanti Ghosh, the Secretary of Darjeeling district city auto drivers’ and owners’ welfare association said: “Totos without registration numbers are not allowed on the Highways. But these totos are plying on the main roads uncontrollably. The movement of totos should be controlled or we will continue our protest.”

On Wednesday morning, a toto driver allegedly hit a city auto and broke the rearview mirror of the auto at Champasari. Thereafter, both the drivers had an altercation.

Allegedly, after some time, the toto driver came to the city auto driver with other people and beat him up. Soon, after the incident, a few city auto drivers staged a protest on Hill Cart Road. Slowly, the number of auto drivers increased on the road. They stopped toto movement in protest.

After getting the news, Abhishek Gupta, DCP traffic, traffic police from Junction traffic guard, a large contingent of Pradhan Nagar police and Rapid Action Force reached to the spot. They asked the auto drivers not to forcefully stop anyone on the road. But the drivers continued their protest, demanding toto movement to stop on highways immediately. Otherwise, they threatened to launch a larger movement.