Autorickshaws, app-based cabs likely to remain off roads on January 3

Autorickshaw and app-based cab drivers in Mumbai have decided to join the truckers' strike on 3 January. Inter-city tourist bus drivers have also joined the strike. The drivers and their unions are protesting against a new penalty for hit-and-run cases, which they consider to be too severe. They are also calling for better infrastructure and road quality. The strike is expected to cause significant disruption to transportation in the city.

MUMBAI: Autorickshaw and app-based cab drivers and their unions on Tuesday decided to join the truckers’ strike and are likely to remain off the roads on January 3. Drivers of inter-city tourist buses too have joined.

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Calling the new penalty of imprisonment up to 10 years and/or fine up to ₹7 lakh “draconian”, the auto unions said it was “steep” for hit-and-run cases, adding that the government needed to build proper footpaths for pedestrians so that they did not spill over on the roads and highways. “The government should also penalise road contractors and the civic authorities for poor-quality roads, as the existing infrastructure is equally responsible for road accidents,” said autorickshaw union leader Thampy Kurien.

K K Tiwari, another auto rickshaw union leader, said that the change in law would affect every driver, including private motorists. “If such a law is passed, people will stop driving vehicles,” he said. “While on humanitarian grounds accident victims should be saved, the government should not put the entire blame on the driver before knowing who was at fault.”

There are around 2.60 lakh autos in Mumbai though there is no clarity on how many could go off the roads. Apart from these, 80,000 cabs running on tourist permits and operating on aggregator platforms, have also decided to join the strike. “Uber and Ola drivers are going off the road in Mumbai,” said Prashant Sawardekar, president, Maharashtra App-Based Transport Workers Union.

Anand Kute, another aggregator cab union leader, added that only those aggregator cabbies who were in dire need of money were plying while most others had parked their cabs. “The government should make dashboard cameras mandatory, which could be used as evidence in case of accidents,” he suggested.

Private intercity tourist buses too remained on the roads, neither leaving the city nor entering it. Even app-based buses like CityFlo and Intrcity cancelled their services on Tuesday morning. There are 37,000 tourist buses, of which around 3,500 ply intercity, and 8,000 ferry office-goers in addition to school and private buses.

Blaming social media and WhatsApp messages for the crisis, bus operators compared the truckers’ strike to the farmers’ protest and urged the government to intervene and resolve the matter soon. “There is no particular leader we can talk to,” said Harsh Kotak of the Mumbai Bus Malak Sanghatana. “Since Tuesday morning, the intercity buses have not plied. We, as an industry, expect losses in crores.”

Meanwhile, schools which resumed after the Christmas vacation, too faced a tough time ferrying students, as school buses were finding it difficult to procure fuel. Anil Garg, president of the School Bus Association, said there were long queues at fuel pumps, and attributed the agitation to spontaneous actions by some drivers fuelled by social media messages. Bal Malkit Singh of the All-India Motor Transport Congress said they were holding a meeting in Delhi with the government to sort out the issue.