``Taxis are presently defeating law enforcement by getting union receipts. We have asked the government to abolish this system, '' Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) SPS Yadav said on Wednesday evening. ``Once a taxi has been charged, there should be no escape.''

Yadav was addressing a face to face meeting `In Search Of Traffic Solutions', organised by the Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) at the Indian Merchants Chamber.

In the present system, a taxi driver deposits his licence with the union and drives with a receipt issued by the union. The system is open to malpractices as the receipts have no photo identification.

The Additional CP said the rapid growth in taxis, over 50,000 in south Mumbai, had caused several problems in the city. The shortage of parking space and taxi stands ensured that cabbies took the risk of paying up fines to the traffic police than lose business. ``For them, it has become a matter of survival.'' The traffic police had already charged 80,000 taxis under various offences until August this year, he said.

There had been a drop in Carbon Monoxide (CO) emissions after the traffic police began its recent Pollution Under Control (PUC) checks on motor vehicles, he added. Carbon monoxide levels at the Mumbai CST junction had fallen from 1.9 to 1.1 per cent, he said. And this was not due to the rain, as CO was insoluble in water.

Admitting that Mumbai's traffic situation was grim, Yadav attributed this to the high vehicle density. At an average of 500 vehicles per kilometre, Mumbai has amongst the highest vehicle density in Asia. However, he expected the scenario to totally change in the next two years after the project for constructing 50 flyovers was completed.

At the meeting, Yadav received a barrage of complaints from motorists of diesel taxis belching thick black smoke. The ACP said that Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) taxis were the only way out.

To handle the problems caused by bicycles and handcarts who could not be charged under the Motor Vehicles Act, Yadav said that the department was on the verge of framing certain special rules to tackle this problem.

On the occasion, WIAA President Nitin Dossa presented the Mumbai traffic police with an imported wheel clamp, a carjack-like device that fastens on to the wheel and immobilises a wrongly parked vehicle. Extensively used abroad, the wheel clamp can be unlocked after the offender pays the police a fine. The WIAA offered to supply the traffic police with similar clamps.