Imphal, April 18: While pointing to manpower inadequacy as one factor for the Imphal Municipal Council not able to live upto the public's expectation, Executive Officer (EO) of the Council S Noren Singh conceded that current problem of traffic congestion during peak hours is a direct fallout of unregistered rickshaws plying in the capital areas.

While talking at length on the traffic snarls in Imphal areas due to large unregistered number of rickshaws, the IMC official also shared his view on the rickshaw pullers/drivers deciding against paying relevant taxes to the Council.

According to Noren information has been conveyed to the IMC Chairperson regarding All Manipur Rickshaw Drivers and Pullers Welfare Association deciding not to oblige tax rules of the Council for 20 days.

Stating that the matter has been forwarded to the Chairperson seeking advice on whether to reconsider it or not, he said in case the Chairperson agrees to review the new tax structure, the Council would convene a meeting to discuss the issue.

The rickshaw pullers had yesterday announced to launch rigid agitation if its demand are not conceded.

On the issue of unregistered rickshaws present on the Imphal roads, Noren listed about 5000 such public carriers moving in and around the Municipality area.

Because of acute lack of manpower the Council is handicapped to detect the un-registered tri-cycles, he said while informing that only 7/8 squads are available at the IMC's disposal to check the illegal practice.

Nevertheless, asserting that unregistered rickshaws seldom venture into the heart of the capital city to avoid penalty when detected by the IMC squads, the EO also opined that unregistered rickshaws are mostly confined to such places like Khurai, Yaiskul, Singjamei, Wangkhei and Chingmeirong routes where the squads' reach is negligible.

"On the otherhand the limited number of unarmed squads cannot fan out to the capital's outskirts to execute their duty purposefully fearing reprisals from the rickshaw drivers," he maintained.

Mentioning that the IMC had earlier sought police assistance to check plying of unauthorised rickshaws, Noren said such an exercise could not bring about positive results as the police force could not dedicate much time in the task.

On being asked, he informed of a total of 6600 registered rickshaws in the IMC record while speculated that the number of unregistered ones might be over 5000.

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