India, Feb. 6 -- With the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) not sanctioning new auto-rickshaw stands for over a decade now, there is a disproportionate increase in the number of registered autos vis-a-vis the number of auto stands across the Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR), leading to auto-rickshaws halting randomly and worsening the traffic congestion in the city.

Currently, Pune city has 1.3 lakh registered auto-rickshaws but only 540 designated stands, while Pimpri-Chinchwad has 42,600 rickshaws with just 150 functional stands.

According to the traffic police, the absence of sufficient auto-rickshaw stands is forcing auto drivers to pick up and drop passengers at random locations, creating bottlenecks. The problem is particularly s...