Assault on cabbie: We have taken cognisance, says CSMIA

Six contractual workers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai have been arrested after a video of them assaulting a taxi driver went viral. The airport has undertaken an investigation and taken disciplinary action against the workers. However, app-based cab drivers have complained that the airport's private security staff have been behaving badly towards them for several months. The drivers, who use platforms including Uber and Ola, claim that they are being targeted for parking in designated areas and are being pestered to pick up passengers quickly.

Mumbai: Two days after a video of a taxi driver, Dayawan Deore, being assaulted by six contractual workers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) went viral, airport officials on Monday said they have taken cognisance of the incident.

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“The incident that has taken place is under investigation and CSMIA is fully supporting the authorities with the inquiry. CSMIA has also taken strict disciplinary action against the said outsourced personnel,” said spokesperson of CSMIA.

The incident took place in the early hours of March 25 in the parking area of the airport. The Sahar police have registered a case and arrested six private contractual workers at the airport.

The police also registered a cross-case against the cab driver after a female airport staffer said that the cabbie had abused and misbehaved with her, which led to a fight between him and the contractual workers.

Stating that the airport will continue to safeguard passengers’ interest at all times, the spokesperson said, “The airport condemns any act of violence and does not support any discourteous behaviour. We, at CSMIA, are committed to providing a safe and hassle-free travel experience to all our passengers/ non-passengers and all our endeavours are directed towards it.”

Meanwhile, aggregator cab drivers have alleged that the airport private security staffers have been misbehaving with them for the last few months. On Monday, app-based drivers held a meeting regarding these incidents at the Mumbai airport.

“We held a meeting with the drivers on this issue as they feel that the airport staff misbehaves with them. Security guards need to be trained on how to speak and behave. We will be taking this up with the chief minister’s office as well and if necessary steps are not taken and the situation doesn’t change, we will be forced to go on a protest,” said Prashant Sawardekar, president, Maharashtra App Based Transport Workers Union.

The drivers claimed that they are unnecessarily being targeted at Mumbai airport and this is not a one-off case. The drivers on their messaging groups and social media are trying to build similar cases that happened in the past at Mumbai airport. These drivers ply on Uber and Ola cabs platforms.

“Such incidents have been happening from early this year. If this continues, they will be forced to stop taking passengers to the airport despite the fact that 35-40% of their daily earning is from a trip to or from Mumbai airport,” said Anand Kute, organising secretary, Maharashtra Rajya Rashtriya Kamgar Sangh.

The drivers told Hindustan Times they are mainly targeted for parking inside the airport premises at the designated area. They are pestered to pick up passengers and leave as soon as possible. Every day, on an average, over a lakh people take the app-based cabs to and from Mumbai airport.

Uber and Ola cabs didn’t respond to the queries regarding the incidents.

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