Passengers wait in vain for autorickshaws near Court More in Siliguri. A Telegraph picture

Siliguri, Nov. 24: The town?s share autorickshaws today went off the roads to protest against the alleged high-handedness of the administration. The operators have decided not to ply their vehicles tomorrow as well.

The administration has launched a drive from yesterday to rein in the three-wheelers that hardly follow any traffic rule. Yesterday, police had fined some of the vehicles for overloading and today the transport authorities detained a few drivers for not carrying valid documents.

Representatives of Greater Siliguri City Auto Operators? Association met P. Zimba, the Siliguri additional district magistrate, today. ?The authorities are targeting us while, in reality, we are the ones suffering. There is no proper auto-stand here, the fare is yet to be fixed and we have to pay an annual tax of Rs 8,500 per vehicle. On top of it, we are at the receiving end of police high-handedness,? said Anik Bal, the association?s secretary.

Zimba, however, said the authorities had decided to act against the autos after receiving numerous complaints against them from residents here. ?We have received a long list of complaints including, overloading, parking at wrong places and even misbehaviour of drivers. We have noticed that many autos do not have proper documents,? she said.