Fake driving licenses causes concern at Raha

Irked at increasing lawlessness among autorickshaw drivers in the town, the residents of Raha town now seems to be in the grip of fake driving license holders for a couple of months as many auto-rikshaw, tempo and tata-magic drivers are seen plying their vehicles holding these fake licenses. It is learnt that some fake driving license holders had succeeded in duping the concerned authority at the time of routine check.

This correspondent was able to witness one such license from one of the auto-rikshaw drivers which had been issued by the Phek district transport authority of Nagaland which shows that there is no similarity between the license holder's age and the date of birth printed on the license. The license seems to have been scanned from an original one.The license holders when asked how he could manage it , said that one of his friends who is also an auto-rikshaw driver managed that for him after paying a handsome amount of money. He said that he has no idea whether the license is an original or duplicate one. He further said that some of his auto-rikshaw and tempo driver friends also running their vehicles with such fake liceses issued by Phek and Usha districts of Nagaland.

The residents of the town alleged that autorickshaws from the neighbouring places like Chaparmukh, Ahatguri, Phulaguri, Demow Barapujia began to venture into the town, many of them driven by people with an unskilled background and having no licences. Their sole aim is to make maximum profit by operating a few trips in the town and many drivers used to get a profit of up to Rs 2,000 daily by fleecing passengers. Most of them ferry goods, in addition to passengers, making a hefty profit without thinking about the safety of the passengers.

There is also a hike in number of complaints about drivers misbehaving with and even assaulting passengers and other road users. Interestingly, “ the authority concerned pays no heed to the complaints of the passengers “, the residence said.

The residents of the town urge the Nagaon district transport authority as well as the police to take strong steps so that the passengers could have a safe journey while travelling with these vehicles.