Siliguri, 02nd November: On Thursday, the City Auto Drivers Organisation met with Traffic DCP Abhishek Gupta of the Siliguri Metropolitan Police on the second day of agitation over the operation of Toto (e-rickshaws) in the city. However, following the conference, the City Auto Drivers Organisation was unable to come to a decision about the prevalence of the vehicles on public roads.
According to reports, a city auto driver was allegedly assaulted by Toto drivers on Wednesday in Champasari, Siliguri. Consequently, city auto drivers joined the initiative to halt the operation of auto-rickshaws on numerous routes across the city following the dispute. Simultaneously, auto-rickshaw drivers staged a massive agitation in this regard. In response, the City Auto Drivers Organisation and DCP Abhishek Gupta held a meeting to discuss the matter. Meanwhile, the City Auto Drivers Organization put forth a petition demanding to abide by the guidelines given by the High Court on running Totos in the city. Following careful consideration of the petition, the police administration had requested a period of fourteen days.
Additionally, the City Auto Drivers Organisation had been urged by the police administration to put an end to the unrest and resume operations from Friday. The Darjeeling District City Auto Drivers and Owners Welfare Association’s secretary, Ujjwal Kanti Ghosh, stated following the meeting that the administration had been informed of their demands and requested a period of 14 days to finalize a decision. This leads to the uncertainty over whether auto rickshaws would operate across the city. In the meantime, the discontinuation of city autos is creating several issues for regular citizens.