Mumbai After making working knowledge of Marathi language mandatory for auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers in Maharashtra, the government is now going to check compliance with the rules. The Transport Department will run a one-month special campaign across the state from August 20. During this, those drivers who do not have working knowledge of Marathi will be checked.
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Giving information about the campaign on Wednesday, Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said that initially notices will be given to drivers who do not follow the rules. They will get three months time to learn Marathi. Even after this, if the language requirement is not met, the driving license and badge can be suspended.
RTO teams will investigate
The campaign will be monitored by Additional Transport Commissioner Ravi Gaikwad. Flying squads of RTO will check autos and taxis across the state. The officials will check the drivers' knowledge of Marathi and their compliance with the new rules. It has also been said that video recording of the entire process will be done during the investigation.
Questions are also being raised by auto-taxi unions regarding this initiative of the government. DM Gosavi, leader of Seva Sarathi Auto-Rickshaw Taxi and Transport Union, says that the word working knowledge has been used in the rules but it is not clear how much Marathi the driver will be required to know.
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Concern among drivers coming from other states
The union says that if there is no clarity in the rules, the scope for arbitrariness may increase during investigation. Due to this, there is also a possibility of corruption at the RTO level and financial exploitation of drivers.
A large number of people from UP, Bihar and other states drive autos and taxis in different cities of Maharashtra. Many of these drivers do not know Marathi at all while some drivers can only carry on a normal conversation. Such drivers are worried about action against license and badge.
Target to teach Marathi to 6 lakh drivers
According to Transport Department data, there are about 9.16 lakh auto-rickshaws and 61,657 taxis in Maharashtra. A large number of these operate in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region i.e. MMR.
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The government is working on a plan to connect around 6 lakh auto-taxi drivers with the initiative to learn Marathi. According to Minister Pratap Sarnaik, so far 1,65,601 drivers have joined this initiative which was started a few months ago. The government says the purpose of the language learning system is to prepare drivers to comply with the rules.