On Friday, February 12, Nitin Dossa announced that more than 5,000 auto and taxi drivers in Mumbai and Thane who had earlier been e-challaned will receive a road safety training by Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) till June end.
According to reports, WIAA will give awards to a few auto, taxi and BEST drivers with 'zero challans' and good driving record at an event to conclude the Road Safety month on February 17. Several NGOs working on road safety will also be felicitated the same day.
On the other hand, in the past, the transport department had decided to limit the distribution of the licenses due to the increasing number of rickshaw-taxis in the state. Moreover, it was reported that the licenses are to be sent to the Central Government for approval after preparing a proposal that licenses will not be distributed in places with a population of 5 lakh or more.
The central government back in November 1997 had ordered a limit on the number of rickshaws in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nagpur, Solapur, Nashik and Aurangabad districts. Accordingly, the state government had proposed that licenses would not be issued beyond certain limits. As a result, the number of taxis along with rickshaws was limited. However, in view of the growing number of passengers and demand, it was decided to completely remove the limit on rickshaw-taxi licenses in 2017.
As a result, the number of rickshaws in the state, which was 7.5 lakh at that time, has now reached 12 lakhs. The number of rickshaws in Mumbai at that time was 1,00,004, now it is more than two lakhs.
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