Delhi autos to be phased out: CM

New Delhi, Mar 18: Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday said that auto-rickshaws would be phased out because the people of the national capital deserve a better mode of transport.

Speaking in the Assembly Diskhit said that autos were a standard mode of transport, and that the city deserved a better and eco-friendly battery-operated alternative.

"I am concerned about the traffic situation and autos are low standard transport. They cannot be the future and will have to be converted or replaced with a better and eco-friendly alternative," she said.

The chief minister voiced the average Delhiite's growing frustration with the traffic situation in the city, which has been aggravated by the presence of over one lakh autos, half of them illegal.

Dikshit said that these autos are not the transport of the future and will be phased out. She rejected the suggestion in the Assembly that the number of autos should be increased from the existing 55,000, the cap imposed by Supreme Court. The question was raised by senior BJP leader Jagdish Mukhi, who felt that it was time to review the cap.

She told Mukhi that a planned phasing out would be undertaken and details will be worked out by the transport department. However,she added that it could take up to four years to implement the plan.

Diskhit went on to add that her government is in talks with Honda and Bajaj to provide battery-operated vehicles. Transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely told the Assembly that they are working to make a system on the lines of radio taxis or six-seater shared vans.

Suggestions ranging from regulating the auto-rickshaws to taking on the auto mafia were also made during the Question Hour.