Auto associations charge money from drivers to let them ply their vehicles in Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, April 6: Autocracy is ruling the streets of capital city as the police have failed to rein in erring autorickshaw drivers. What is worse is that various auto associations are now running parallel administration in their areas of operation.

“Though the police are well aware of the situation, no action has been taken against them,” said Bimabadhar Patnaik, a businessmen of Unit-I area.

Sources said the “parallel administration” was so well entrenched that one required their permission to ply an autorickshaw in the city.

While one association demands Rs 5,000 to take a new auto-driver into its fold, some others demand less. Sometimes the association members also demand money from new drivers.

“Even if we pay the money, they sometimes don’t allow us to ply on important city squares. They even don’t allow us to take any passengers from the nearby square,” said autorickshaw driver Manoj Nayak, who has been plying his auto for the last three years.

The city also witnessed the murder of an auto driver near CRPF Auto Square on March 29. The murder is the fallout of group rivalry between autorickshaw drivers. Members of a rival group had allegedly killed 23-year-old autorickshaw driver Kamal Sarkar.

According to Gopal, who was present at the spot when his younger bother was killed, Kamal was attacked by some autorickshaw drivers in the stand near CRPF Square around 9pm after he slapped one of them.

“Soon other drivers surrounded us. While some dragged me away, others took away my brother. I was beaten up and after sometime I heard that my brother had been stabbed. By the time I reached near my brother, the police had already arrived at the spot,” said Gopal.

Sources said Kamal had paid Rs 5,000 to a member of an auto association and asked for permission to ply from the CRPF Square.

“When the association members did not allow Kamal to ply from CRPF Square, a squabble ensued and it ended in Kamal’s death,” said an auto driver.

Police admitted that it had received a number of complaints against auto drivers. City police officers said now 16,000 auto-rickshaws were operating in the city. “We don’t need more autorickshaws in the city. The city has already been saturated. We have already taken a series of steps to streamline the plying of autorickshaw,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.

Assistant commissioner of police (traffic) Nirmal Satpathy said: “To streamline the city’s auto system, we have given identity cards to all the drivers. The city police have also given them registration numbers. We try to educate them on how to ply on the roads.”