Although the notification to expand the scope of Mumbai Regional Transport Authority (RTA) area to Mumbai Metropolitan Region has been issued by the Department of Transport, there are a few issues that have to be worked out before the opening of the boundaries for seamless travel.

According to Ramanath Jha, principal secretary (Transport and Excise), the MMR’s Authority which is chaired by Principal Secretary (Transport) and its members Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) and Joint Commissioner, MMRDA will have to chalk out the nitty-gritty of the proposal, including the common fares for the entire region.

“We have called a meeting to decide upon the notification on March 4 after which the autorickshaws and taxis can move freely in MMR,” Jha said.

Another issue the authority faces is that the autorickshaws in Kalyan and Dombivali areas do not have mechanical meters installed. “The installation of the meters will be made compulsory,” Jha added.

Meanwhile, Sharad Rao, general secretary of the Municipal Mazdoor Union, has strongly opposed this move by the government. According to him, due to this step, a large number of “unauthorised” autorickshaws will come into Mumbai limits to do business.

“There are around 23,000 unauthorised autorickshaws in Thane which will cross over to Mumbai and snatch livelihood of those with authorised autorickshaws,” he argued.

Acknowledging the issue of a large number of unauthorised autorickshaws in areas like Thane and Kalyan, Jha said, “The unauthorised autorickshaws will be dealt with separately.”

According to Rao, the government should permit the three-wheelers to go into the island city.

“Why are they (government) opening the boundaries and not allowing autos beyond Sion and Bandra?” he asked and added, “We will not allow this to happen. We will agitate and will even go to courts if the livelihood of the auto drivers is taken away.”

The aim behind opening the limits and allowing free movement of public transport vehicles is to provide better public transport service to the citizens in the entire MMR. This would allow taxis and autorickshaws to ply freely in the MMR, which is made of seven municipal corporations (Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Kalyan-Dombivali, Mira-Bhayander and Bhiwandi-Nizampur), 13 municipal councils (Ambarnath, Karjat, Khopoli, Kulgaon-Badlapur, Matheran, Nallasopara, Panvel, Pen, Vasai, Virar, Uran, Navghar-Manikpur, and Alibaug) and 982 villages of Thane and Raigad districts spread over 3,887 sq km.