Photo: Prakhar Pandey
The Millennium City had reintroduced Pink Autos (exclusively for woman commuters) with some new, special features. The relaunch was inaugurated by Joint Commissioner of Police, Saurabh Singh at the HUDA City Centre's prepaid booth. At present there are 21 Pink Autos in the City. The drivers of these autos have been thoroughly verified by the police authorities. Women can also avail this service when they are accompanied by a male colleague or a family member. These autos would be available from the HUDA City Centre Metro station. Women commuters at this Station are expected to prefer this service as it would be safer and the charge would be the same as a ‘normal’ auto, said a traffic policeman. In its new avatar, the Pink Auto will be equipped with a light and an alarm button. "On pressing the alarm button, a distress signal on the auto will blare an alarm and a light will start blinking, indicating that the commuter is in danger," said Mohit, a Pink Auto driver. Nisha Guha Thukral, a college student, said, “Relaunching Pink Auto is a great move by the Traffic department and I sincerely appreciate this. I would suggest that the authorities also start allowing lady drivers for Pink Autos.”
Pink Autos were first introduced in January 2013, after a physiotherapy student was raped in a moving bus in Delhi on December 16, 2012 - but the service was later discontinued due to a poor response. “We may have failed once, but there is no harm in trying again. Our department had taken this initiative. We hope to increase the number of Pink Autos in the not too distant future,” said DCP, Vinod Kaushik. “The Department had formulated a criteria for Pink Auto drivers – for example, they should be local and middle-aged, ” an ASP added. However, the drivers did not seem to be satisfied with this concept. They expect that their earnings will reduce by almost 50%. Said Mohit, “Very few have availed Pink Autos, and this is unlikely to change. Even ladies seem to prefer the ‘yellow autos’, because most of their drivers are positioned just outside the station and offer rides at lower rates than us. We, on the other hand, have to wait at our booth, and have a fixed rate.” Added Kumar, another auto driver, “If I drop a commuter at DLF Phase 1 (from the HUDA Metro station), getting another woman commuter there will not be easy. In which case, I'll have to return ‘empty’ all the way to the Metro station to find my next customer." Lady commuters seem to also not be opting for the Pink Autos because the numbers are too few. Neelanjana Jaiswal, Senior Officer, Usha International, said, “I have not seen any Pink Auto, though I have definitely heard about them.” She felt that there was still very little awareness about the more modern and safer Pink Autos. “Commuters are always in a hurry on the road. Everybody is rushing. You just take what you get…and the ‘yellow autos’ are all over. For the Pink Auto program to be successful, the Traffic Police should ensure that an exclusive booth is set up (and publicised) for lady commuters,” she added. One of the major reasons for the earlier failure of Pink Autos was that they were just not allowed to carry men and were issued challans in case men were found riding in them. This time the Police have decided to be less harsh in dealing with such situations. Many lady commuters also felt that it is equally important to rein in the ‘yellow auto drivers’, who would still carry the majority of women. Quite a few of these drivers are often aggressive even with female commuters. “I know that the auto drivers are belligerent and very hard to manage. Despite cautioning them, we sometimes have to use equally aggressive tactics to discipline them,’ admitted a police official stationed near HUDA City Centre. “We have complained to our higher authorities, but these auto drivers ‘somehow’ manage to escape punishment. Further, their number is reaching unmanageable proportions. We need more manpower to handle them,” added another official. Auto drivers come to Gurgaon from UP, Bihar and Bengal, for ‘better prospects’. The autos in Gurgaon also do not run on meters, though the Traffic department has set rate cards based on distances. According to Sarita Lekhi, a regular commuter in Delhi and Gurgaon, the rate card system just does not work (unlike the Delhi fixed meter rate). “Not many auto rickshaw drivers are prepared to either display the rate cards or willing to charge the prescribed rates. In fact the rates keep varying depending on the rush. Very often their behaviour is also not good,” Sarita said. The Traffic department will have to be more pro-active this time, starting with aggressive awareness drives. They will also need to ‘protect’ the Pink Auto drivers, and ensure they remain motivated. Pink Autos is a small, but worthwhile, step for the enhanced safety of women commuters. Women and their families now need to start preferring pink…at least on the road.
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