Just a day after oil tanker and truck drivers called off their strike, cab drivers across tricity went off roads on Wednesday against the harsher punishment for hit-and-run offences in the new crime code. Nearly 500 cabs, under the banner of Tricity Cab Association, that ply in Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali struck work and parked the cabs in the ground near Yadavindra Public School (YPS) Chowk in Mohali, from 9am till 5 pm, causing inconvenience to thousands of commuters.
Vikram Singh Pundir, the president of the Tricity Cab Association, said: “No one wants to drive cabs with such a stringent law. Drivers can’t pay ₹7 lakh or face 10-year jail for an unintentional accident. We demand that the government scrap it immediately and give us in writing that our drivers won’t be in legal trouble.”
Pundir said the government should come up with a helpline at which drivers can report accidents and get details of the police station where they can surrender.
“The union involves thousands of drivers who ply daily in the tricity. All the drivers are fearing to be caught and lynched by mobs. The government needs to withdraw the black law at the earliest,” said Pundir.
Vikas Kumar, a cab driver in Mohali, said, “This is a poor decision by the government as only drivers will be held responsible for deaths in accidents even when people could be responsible. One of our drivers was brutally beaten in Kurali two months ago after he accidentally hit a senior citizen who was driving a scooter on the wrong side. After the latter died, the mob thrashed him with rods leaving him handicapped for life.”
{{/usCountry}}Vikas Kumar, a cab driver in Mohali, said, “This is a poor decision by the government as only drivers will be held responsible for deaths in accidents even when people could be responsible. One of our drivers was brutally beaten in Kurali two months ago after he accidentally hit a senior citizen who was driving a scooter on the wrong side. After the latter died, the mob thrashed him with rods leaving him handicapped for life.”
{{/usCountry}}Cab drivers said that they may extend their one-day protest if the administration does not accept their demand to initiate talks with the government on their behalf.
Commuters hassled
Cab users had a tough day as they struggled to book cabs to reach work, bus stand, railway station and airport.
Bikram Singh of Kharar said, “I had to board a bus to Delhi with my friend from ISBT-Sector 17, Chandigarh, but I failed to get a cab. Eventually my younger brother dropped me to the bus stand.”
The situation was no better in Chandigarh as residents struggled to reach office in time.
Sukhraj Randhawa of Sector 15, Chandigarh, said that he could not book a cab to his office in Dera Bassi. “It took me around 40 minutes to find a cab to Dera Bassi from my house. The government needs to rethink the law which has already led to such a controversy across the country.”
Though the cab drivers protested peacefully, the protest was monitored by DSP HS Bal besides other cops.
Earlier on Tuesday, the tricity had seen a fuel crisis as oil tanker drivers refused to supply fuel to petrol pumps for the second consecutive day, to register their protest against the hit and run law following which long queues of the panicked buyers thronged filling stations.