The endless wait for a Common Regional Transport Authority for Delhi NCR

The endless wait for a Common Regional Transport Authority for Delhi NCR

Devang Chaturvedi

Shyamu Rathore is approximately 24 years of age and has been driving an auto rickshaw in Ghaziabad, UP for the past two years. The hired auto rickshaw that he drives costs him Rs. 350 per day but Shyamu’s expenditure is just not limited to hiring the auto. From CNG expenditure to bribing the Delhi and UP police at the Ghaziabad-Loni-Anand Vihar border, his is a perfect example of how obligatory they have to be just to avoid the excess tax levied inside Delhi.

An auto rickshaw that roughly costs Rs 1, 60,000 within UP is priced at a staggering

Rs 5, 34,000 in Delhi. An increased price means an increased tax and hence the reluctance of crossing the border inside the precincts of the national capital.

Public Transportation mess in National capital region of Delhi is perhaps as old as the National capital region itself. Inconvenienced commuters, harassed pliers and the state governments in a deadlock, such are the state of affairs of the public transportation in Delhi NCR to not talk about the counter magnates. It’s been decades that the effects of this clutter are understood by the governments or it may turn out to be yet another sore eye, aggravation of the masses supreme on it.

The circumstances are so dismal, that the average commuter, one who doesn’t use or perhaps is not able to use the Delhi Metro or the State Transport Corporation buses but rather uses the auto rickshaw or the cab is left stranded at the border in a state of utter disarray.

The commuter has two options broadly put across. One, he may disembark from the auto rickshaw at the border and board an auto to further prolong his ride to the destination he intends to. Two, he may agree to shell out any exorbitant amount the auto rickshaw driver has the audacity to ask for.

The Auto rickshaw driver cannot be put at fault if he intends to charge you more than what should be the tangible cost. For each time he ferries across the border he has to shell out the taxes levied on interstate movement. Not to forget, the excess bribe that he pays the cop at duty, which ever state he might be from.

“Delhi transport authorities do not permit tax wavers, however UP transport authorities cannot make it binding for the auto rickshaws coming from the other side of the border. The Govt. of Uttar Pradesh is open to the proposal of one transport jurisdiction for the area of Delhi NCR, but the going may be not as uncomplicated as it seems on paper”, claims Jaishankar Tiwari, Assistant Regional Transport Officer (Noida).

He further outlines on why it may be difficult to set one taxation rate in the region, “Taxation comes under the state list and the revenue generated is directly transferred from the region into the state treasury. Different rates of taxation are applicable in different states. Since, the revenue generated is immense neither of the state’s may be willing to part with this source of income”

Further he claims, “The standards and rates for auto rickshaws were fixed in 2005 and there hasn’t been a revision since. Rates and standards are set by the state government keeping in mind the paying capacity of masses all across the length and breadth of the state. What a person may be able to pay in Delhi NCR, a person using an auto rickshaw in a district as remote as Maharajganj in UP may not be able to. Rates have to be all inclusive. There needs to be a parity maintained in the state.”

Lastly he asserts, “The Government of Uttar Pradesh wishes to express solidarity with the aggravations of the commuters and the auto rickshaw drivers and intends to put across that commuter satisfaction as with a solution for the crisis is what their definitive purpose is; even if that may come at the expense of parting with the taxation revenue somewhat.”

However, the Gurgaon Regional Transport Officer’s office gives an entirely different yet somewhat amusing perspective. On being asked why auto rickshaw’s plying in Gurgaon and Faridabad, two bordering districts of Haryana, do not wish to cross over inside the Delhi border, the reply was, “They cannot. They can only go at the maximum of 5 kms and not beyond.”

Further, on being asked a possible solution for this problem the reply was, “Change the auto rickshaw at the border and continue with a Delhi registered auto rickshaw.”

The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) a statutory body under the Ministry of Urban Development, Govt. of India however has proposed in its Transportation Plan 2021, unrestricted movement of auto rickshaws, cabs and buses across the border of Delhi and adjoining districts of Noida and Ghaziabad under UP and Gurgaon and Faridabad under Haryana.

It proposes to develop Mass Rapid Transit Systems (MRTS) and Regional Rapid Transit Systems (RRTS) so as to ensure high velocity movement of public and commercial transportation within the boundaries of the concerned states.

It also proposes the establishment of a co-ordinating agency, constituted by representatives from each different state who would co-ordinate and take an overall integrated view of the transportation facilities and hassles.  An authority for the region could thus be constituted either through fresh legislation under Clause (i) of Article 252 of the Indian Constitution with the consent of states involved or through resolution of the board itself, which would be of a non statutory nature.

An official on condition of anonymity from NCRPB on being asked about the problem of interstate plying of Auto rickshaws said, “Tax avoidance at the moment is the only available outcome of this crisis for the auto rickshaw drivers.”

He however recommended that, “Tax payment is the kind of recurring expenditure that proposes an investment of a sum for a year. You pay the entire tax once and then your commuting is unrestricted. Radio Cabs and Chartered Buses do so but they are not required to pay tax to and fro.

In the case of auto rickshaws however, the payment is to and fro. NCRPB is ready with the implementation of one way tax payment for the auto rickshaws too but a Supreme Court order has restrained the proceedings.”

The idea for one jurisdiction of this entire area has already been mooted and deliberated upon. The implementation however remains an unfinished task. With none of the states willing to give up the lucrative revenue generation the execution it seems would remain to be a thorn in the eye. The commuters can only hope that sense prevails and a common regional transport authority eliminates these overbearing hassles.