Auto drivers now have an excuse to raise rates

CHENNAI: Predictably, auto drivers in Chennai promptly increased rates on Wednesday, after the announcement of a hike in petrol price. When a number of petrol bunks across the city allegedly went dry and closed down, auto drivers even tripled rates in certain instances.In Egmore, Vasanthi, a banker, said an auto driver asked for Rs 180 to travel from Vepery to Triplicane, hardly 4 km. “When asked why the rate was so high, he challenged me to get a litre of petrol for his vehicle,” she said. The case was similar in auto stands at Nungambakkam, Thiruvanmiyur and Mylapore, where passengers complained of “impossible rates” quoted by auto drivers even for a short distance, pointing to the hike in rates of petrol by Rs 7.50 per litreHowever, auto drivers cribbed that they had no other option. “The public keep bad-mouthing us because we don’t use the metre. But if they keep increasing fuel prices at this rate then how can we settle on a fare?” asked Kesavan, an auto driver in Thiruvanmiyur.