'There is nothing world class about Gramin Seva'

Drivers do not obey traffic rules, they often squeeze 15 passengers per vehicle

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is fond of using the apirational term ‘world class city’ for Delhi.

But all the talk about making it to the big league might sound hollow if your daily commute is a cramped Gramin Seva auto.

Ram Prakash, a resident of Kalyanpuri in east Delhi, who runs a street-side eatery in Govindpuri area, struggles every day to reach his workplace. “It’s sometimes very hard for me to commute as there is hardly any bus service plying in our area. We have to depend on Gramin Seva autorickshaws which are generally overcrowded,” he said.

Similarly, Zafar Mannan, a commerce student at Deshbandhu College in Kalkaji said, “We have to wait for a bus for more than an hour to reach the college. There is no proper connectivity. We have to walk around one kilometre as the bus stands are situated quite far away. With no option left, we are forced to take Gramin Seva, which fleeces us like anything.”

Moreover, commuters also find these Gramin Seva auto drivers to be rude and rough in their manners. Rather than acting on passengers’ complaints, they may straightaway ask a person to get down in the middle of the road.

“Once I complained of overcrowding and they almost threw me out of the auto. But what to do? I have to commute every day and there is no bus facility,” said Sanjeev Kumar, a resident of Mayur Vihar Phase-3.  

It has become a common sight to see passengers fighting while travelling to office or heading back home everyday. The worst part is when after a long wait the bus arrives, it is so overloaded that they can’t get in. And then, they are overcharged by the Gramin Seva autos.

"Saket Metro station is almost three kilometres away from Devli. But because the bus service is poor, we shell out Rs10 instead of Rs 5 for Gramin Seva autos. They have a monopoly in the area," said Naveen Mishra , who lives in the south locality and works with an NGO.

The government has also started minibuses known as RTVs to connect Delhi’s illegal colonies with Metro stations, however, travelling in them is often a nightmare. “The drivers of the mini-buses are insane, they halt at bus stops for more than 15 to 20 minutes to fill in more passengers,” said Abhishek Verma, a IT professional, who lives in Seelampur in north-east Delhi.

“The main purpose of the RTVs was to connect the far away areas with Metro stations. But they take more than an hour just to cover a distance of five kilometres. We prefer to take autorickshaws for the sake of convenience,” he said.