RTO’s auto e-meter drive pushed back

RTO’s auto e-meter drive pushed back

The ambitious drive planned by transport officials to replace all tampered mechanical meters with electronic ones failed to take off this week. Officials from the eastern regional transport office (RTO) in Wadala said the drive has been postponed due to the ongoing holiday, as well as the unavailability of machines which help quickly detect tampered meters. An RTO official said, “There is no point in having a drive in a week with fewer working days. Also, since the much-needed machines that help detect tampered meters faster than conventional methods are not yet available, we are unable to begin the drive.” He added, “We plan to begin next week.” An official from the Andheri RTO was less optimistic. “The assembly session and the driver recruitment drive are in progress. So, there is a lack of manpower to undertake enforcement work at present. So you can expect the drive to begin after the end of the Assembly session,” he said. Facing resistance from auto drivers to the installation of e-meters, Wadala RTO officials planned to make them compulsory to ensure compliance with the new rule. The notification, effective since April 1, has made it mandatory for all autos with mechanical meters to switch to electronic meters in a phased manner. Being commercial vehicles, autos undergo annual fitness tests at RTOs. It is during these that the autos were expected to be installed with e-meters.