Mangalore : The Auto Rickshaw drivers and owners of the city staged protest in front of Mangalore City Corporation on Nov 17, 2011 demanding to authorize Auto Rickshaw parks.

Addressing the protestors, B Vishnumurthy, secretary of the rickshaw owners and drivers’ association said that the frequent up and downs in the price hikes of fuel prices has made the lives of auto rickshaw drivers and their families difficult.

Speaking about the unauthorized auto rickshaw parks, he said that there 350 and above auto parks coming under the limits of MCC, but only MCC has made only 69 parks as the authorized rickshaw parks.

He also said that in 2008, former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa had sanctioned the fund of Rs 100 crore and the Mangalore City Corporation in the Jan Sampark meeting held at Karnataka Bank Auditorium to register all the auto rickshaw parks in the city in the presence of Police officials, traffic police and district administration, but none of the work has been completed.

The members of the association in relate to this has submitted many memorandum to MCC Commissioner and other officials but nothing has been done, he said.

He also said that the MCC has only concretized only 100 kilometer road out of 900 kilometer.

The roads are in a very bad condition. No road repairs had been undertaken after rainy season. The roads should be repaired immediately. Should the administration fail to repair the roads, stronger protests would be held, he said.

Ashok Kumar Shetty of Janatha Auto rickshaw owners and drivers’ Association, Yasin Kudroli of minorities Auto rickshaw owners and drivers’ Association, Abubakker Suratkal of Suratkal Auto rickshaw owners and drivers’ Association, Arun Kumar of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (Rickshaw Unit), Prakask V N of DK District Auto rickshaw drivers association and others were present.