By IANS
Hyderabad : The city’s auto-rickshaws kept off the roads for the third day Thursday to protest the mandatory installation of digital meters. The government, which has given Dec 1 as the deadline to install digital meters to prevent tampering, has ruled out talks with the striking auto-rickshaw owners.
More than 100,000 three-wheelers remained off the roads Thursday, badly affecting school-children who generally use this transport to commute between home and school.
The department of transport and the traffic police seized more than 1,000 auto-rickshaws with tampered meters during a special drive last week.
About 90 percent of the city’s 120,000 autos are taking part in the strike. The authorities are running additional buses and trains to clear the rush.
A majority of school-children is facing difficulty in reaching schools and returning home.
The authorities have planned 300 additional and 20 local trains to tide over the crisis.
Meanwhile, auto drivers staged a sit-in to protest enforcing of the digital meter.
The government claims that 80 percent of the auto rickshaws have tampered meters and has directed them to replace the mechanical meters with digital ones by Dec 1.
Taking a tough stand, Minister for Transport Kanna Lakshminarayana has ruled out talks with the striking auto drivers. He said the drivers would have to abide by the rules and the digital meters would bring transparency in fares.