"It seems there is one set of traffic rules for all vehicles and a separate set for autorickshaws," Moni Dasgupta, who drives to his Salt Lake office every day from his south Kolkata residence, says.
"As they do not follow any rule, it causes accidents but they get away as there are rowdies among them and they abuse other drivers who protest," says Piyalee Dasgupta, a lawyer practising at the Calcutta High Court.
At a rough estimate over 20,000 autorickshaws run in Kolkata, while another 25,000 enter the metropolis from the suburbs.
The autorickshaw appeared on the roads as the poor man's taxi operating on meters in the city.
Most autorickshaw operators earlier owed allegiance to the CITU when the Left Front was in power, but shifted to the ruling Trinamool Congress' labour wing INTTUC after 2011.
Transport minister Madan Mitra, however, has promised action against errant drivers.
"The drive against errant autorickshaw operators has already started and the results will soon be visible," Mitra told PTI. MORE