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Cab, auto drivers on strike in Chandigarh tricity from August 10
Around 8,000 cabs ply in the Chandigarh tricity, serving professionals, students, senior citizens, tourists and shoppers alike
On the edge over the murder of two cab drivers in Mohali over the past three months, cab and auto-rickshaw drivers have decided to go off roads on August 10, when the Cab Auto Union Front will also launch an indefinite hunger strike in Sector 25 to draw attention to their safety concerns.
Five leaders of the front will go on hunger strike, while other members will stall cab and auto-rickshaw services in support. Around 8,000 cabs ply in the tricity, serving professionals, students, senior citizens, tourists and shoppers alike.
The front, which includes taxi and auto unions of the tricity, has voiced discontent with both the civic administration and private cab companies for ignoring their safety.
Union spokesperson Inderjit Singh said the companies’ negligence had exposed them to potential criminal conspiracies. He underscored the unchecked operation of vehicles with private licence plates, which had put law-abiding drivers in jeopardy.
He said the sluggish police response to the recent murder of cab driver Dharampal in Mullanpur had heightened drivers’ anxieties. On July 31, Dharampal, 35, was stabbed to death by a robber who intended to make off with his car.
On May 3, through a similar modus operandi, two Class-4 employees of a private hospital in Mohali had stabbed a cab driver to death after booking a ride and dumped his body in a manhole before driving off with the vehicle.
