With the onset of the festive sea son, many tourist drivers have once again started taking advantage of passengers and are currently charging beyond the prescribed rate.
In a clear violation of the Government rates, those who run tourist vehicles have hiked the fare according to their whims and fancies.
The unprecedented hike has come in a time when many people frequent Shillong and Guwahati during the festive season.
Passengers alleged that drivers of Sumos are charging rates upto the extent of Rs 1000 per passenger though the fare for a single passenger in a Sumo is Rs 150 at the maximum.
While the sumo drivers are charging exorbitantly, the fare for hired taxis has increased from Rs 300 per head to prices ranging from Rs 1200 to Rs 1500.
According to the affected passengers, this trend will bring undue hardships to the people as they are being over charged.
When contacted, MTTA general secretary Diganta Nath admitted that large scale over charging is currently going on in the route which is commuted by hundreds of people every day.
“It is totally illegal and the drivers don’t have any right to over charge any passenger,” he said.
He also revealed that the drivers who are over charging passengers are mostly the vehicles who are operating from Police Bazar and Anjalee Parking lot.
He was of the opinion that many tourist taxi associations have come up and there is no permanent parking which makes the entire network of tourist taxis collaps and it is difficult to keep a tab on all the taxis when they indulge in such illegal practices.
MTTA president A Shanpru also said that if even a single complaint comes against any vehicle operating under the MTTA, then stringent action will be taken against the drivers for over charging.
Hope this is an effective step in curbing the menace.
(By Aafaque Hussain)