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40 cab drivers detained over aggregator policy in Chandigarh
The protests also led to the detention of around 100 protesters from the same area on Monday. The police asked them to move to the Sector 25 Rally Ground
Around 40 members of cab drivers’ union were detained on Tuesday near Sector 16/17 road as they planned to organise a protest at the Sector 17 roundabout and further march to the Punjab chief minister’s residence in Sector 3. The union has been protesting daily, asking for the implementation of the Cab Aggregator Policy introduced by the UT.
The protests also led to the detention of around 100 protesters from the same area on Monday. The police asked them to move to the Sector 25 Rally Ground, however protesters wanted to stop the traffic at the Sector 17 roundabout and as a result they were detained and taken to the Sector 3 police station where they were kept for a few hours and released later.
The Chandigarh Tricity Driver Union and Jai Durga Auto-rickshaw Welfare Association, a 2,000 member-strong union have been protesting at the Sector-25 rally ground since June 1 over UT’s ‘failure to implement’ the aggregator policy and fare rates notified last year. The UT notified the Chandigarh aggregator policy on June 24, 2025, and the fare rates on July 7, 2025. The aggregator policy, apart from laying down various guidelines for driver verification, onboarding, insurance, states that aggregator companies can charge only up to 20% of the total ride fare as commission. Drivers allege that the firms continue to charge around 30%.
Among other demands, the union is seeking a revision of fare rates for 2026, citing an increase of around ₹9 per kilogram in CNG prices, discontinuation of subscription and pass systems, mandatory driver training, medical check-up camps, medical and term insurance, and a ban on attaching non-commercial vehicles to aggregator platforms.
The protest comes weeks after the UT administration suspended the aggregator licence of ANI Technologies, which operates Ola, for six months on June 17, citing repeated violations of regulatory norms and non-compliance with official directions.
