Rajahmundry, Sep 6th: An awareness program on traffic rules and road safety norms is going to be organized for auto rickshaw drivers by the police in association with an NGO on the fourth week of September. At a meeting held here on Sunday, deputy superintendent of police, Ms. D. Janaki said that identity cards to auto drivers would be given for the benefit of the commuters. She said that from Monday drivers would be issued ID cards at the traffic police station. ID cards were issued to most of the auto rickshaw drivers earlier and the balance would be completed now.

City traffic police is facing problem of rash driving, overloading, allowing commuters to sit by the side of the driver, collecting excess fare, stopping the vehicle in the middle of the road obstructing the free of flow of vehicular traffic on busy roads during peak time and non-compliance with traffic regulations and not wearing khaki uniform regularly. Nearly 6,000 vehicles ply on the roads in the town and ID cards were issued to nearly 4,000 drivers earlier. About 2,000 vehicles from outside the city also carry commuters to different destinations.

Many drivers are alleging that they were being booked by the police for minor violations and were getting penalized for Rs 500 to Rs 1,000. To sort out the problem, Intuc leader Vasamsetti Gangadhara Rao, TNTUC leader Bolisetti Satyanarayana and others met the DSP and sought her intervention.