Srinagar, Jan 18: Auto-rickshaw has been a travel medium for thousands who can’t afford a private vehicle or wait to waste time in a passenger bus which moves at a “snail’s pace” in the summer capital. But this time again, the rickshaw passengers particularly the patients and the elderly have to bear the winter chill as police have asked the auto-drivers to remove side windows on most of the City routes.
 The police move has drawn flak from the passengers who find “no logic” in the ban while the police say it’s a security measure in a run up to the nearing January 26 celebrations.
 A police official at a Naka Point near Hazuri Bagh when asked about the ban said there were reports that militants could travel by auto-rickshaws. “So we want the passengers to remain visible,” he said while asking a driver to remove the window.
 The passengers criticize the move.
 “I was taking my ailing wife to hospital but her condition deteriorated as we boarded a windowless auto. But then we had no other option,” argued a passenger Nasir Ahmed.
 The passengers said when other cabs could have windows why not the rickshaws.
 “Just to make their job of frisking an auto easy, they have victimized the passengers,” he added.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:00:00 IST