Taxi, autorickshaw drivers to go on strike from Aug 29

Mumbai, Aug 24 (PTI) Taxi and autorickshaw driversunder Jai Bhagwan Taxi Rickshaw Sanghatana today announcedthey would go on indefinite strike from August 29 in Mumbai,Thane and Navi Mumbai demanding the state government toregulate operation of cab aggregators such as Uber and Ola. "We have lost hopes from the state government and theChief Minister, who did not fulfil his promise to come up withrules or Act to regulate these app-based aggregators, who areeating into our money and passengers," president of thisrelatively new association Balasahab Sanap said. "Now, we are left with no another option but to resortto indefinite strike. We gave government ample time to lookinto our demands…it did nothing but only made fakepromises," he said. Sanap claimed that over 95 per cent taxi andautorickshaw drivers under the association and their ownerswill take part in the strike. Their three key demands include, to put the operationsof app-based cab aggregators on hold till rules andregulations are formulated by the government, if allowed, theyshould be asked to ply outside the Mumbai Metropolitan Region,they should be under the ambit of RTO rules and regulations. In June, taxi and autorickshaw drivers under thisbanner had protested at Azad Maidan seeking inquiry and actionagainst cab aggregators over their pricing strategy to attractcustomers. Meanwhile, Mumbai Autorickshaw and Taximen’s Union hasalso announced to go on a day-long strike on August 31 overtheir various demands. "We have announced a day-long strike on August 31. Ourkey demand is check on operation of vehicles of call centresin the city used for purposes other than ferrying call centreemployees. Our demand also include regulation of app-basedaggregators," president of the union Shashank Rao said. He claimed that the union has 83,541 autorickshawdrivers with it. PTI APM ARS NSDBAS