The rickshaw panchayat is also protesting the delay in the implementation of the ban on six-seater autorickshaws in the municipal limits, and has decided to launch a stiff agitation against the compulsion to install electronic meters. The Pune city autorickshaw federation has also condemned the Government's decision terming the hike as insignificant and incorrect.

Coordinator of the rickshaw panchayat, Nitin Pawar, charged that some of the decisions like the installation of electronic meters had been unilaterally announced by the State Government while the State-level action committee of autorickshaw drivers had been consistently opposing them. Pawar said while the exact structure of the hike in fares for Pune was not available, he added that the fare hike forPune city was paltry.

The panchayat in a statement said there was no hike in fares in Pune since July 4, 1996 although prices of petrol were hiked three times in the last two years. The fare structure, with the first slab for a distance of one kilometre and further slabs for distances of every hundred metres was first introduced in Pune on the Panchyat's demand, the statement said.

It added that the structure dislodged all doubts of meter tampering. The same slab structure is to be introduced in other cities. Compared to the fare hike in other cities, the hike for Pune was very less, the statement said.