Bengaluru cab drivers taking alternate routes from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) to avoid toll payment has upset passengers, especially women due to the fact that many crimes have happened at these infamous routes.
Several horrific incidents, including murder, have taken place in the infamous Begur route, which most cab drivers prefer taking to avoid paying the toll tax in the National Highway-44. Even though many people have complained against this issue, the drivers still take these routes even after they are given directives from the cab aggregators.
In a recent incident on Monday (September 30), when a female working professional from the city was coming back from the airport in an Ola cab, the driver took the BK Halli-Bagalur route to go to the city instead of the NH-44. This led to a scuffle between the passenger and driver after which the driver abandoned the women in the middle of nowhere.
Recently, a model from Kolkata was murdered en route airport by her cabbie in an attempt to rob the woman on July 31. Several such cases have been reported in the Silicon Valley and the majority of these cases happened in the airport route.
The Begur route is a dimly lit area with very fewer street lights and barely any police rounds and this gives a perfect opportunity for the drivers to take advantage of the situation and harm the passengers. Even with so many complaints piling up with the harms caused due to the deviation, police have not yet fully assigned a team or a check post to prevent the cabbies from taking this route.
The public blames both the cab aggregators and the police for such incidents. Sathya, a resident of Devanahalli, said that to create a safer environment for the travellers the civic authorities must put up more lights in the area and police patrolling must be increased with a check-post to ensure that cabs are not passing through Begur area at least during the late hours.
While the cab aggregators provide app-based security measures like emergency button and 24x7 helpline, they will not be able to keep track of every cab. Even when the drivers are directed to stay away from alternate routes and deviation they still take it which usually ends up in a bad situation.
