Citizen forums demand end to share taxi menace in Wadala, say RTO not acting

Residents near Wadala railway station in Mumbai are raising concerns about the reckless driving of shared taxi operators in the area. Despite efforts to address the issue, the problem persists, with reports of accidents involving these taxis. Authorities have been urged to take action against the drivers who are endangering lives.

Mumbai: Six months after a woman was run over by a share taxi driver in Wadala, various citizen forums and residents from the locality have raised alarm over the continuing menace of shared taxi operators near Wadala railway station alleging that they are endangering lives.

HT Image

On February 11, Supriya Kattimanigaudar, a 34-year-old mother of four, was mowed down by a speeding taxi in Wadala. Her three daughters and a son were with her at the time of the accident. The taxi driver, Nasir Sheikh, was arrested and later released on bail. He was allegedly speeding.

The horror returned to haunt the residents 10 days back when another taxi was involved in an accident. On July 24, two women were seriously injured after an inebriated man tried to drive his friend’s taxi and rammed into them while they were walking in Wadala East.

The Wadala Citizens forum, the Wadala Forum and an NGO Friends of Wadala (East) along with other residents have said that despite carrying out rallies, writing to the authorities and conducting a joint meeting, the issue of share taxis driving rashly in the area has not been resolved.

“Unlike private vehicles which may not have a known fixed route, the traffic and the RTO division are aware of the starting and the end points of taxi routes. So why are they unable to act here?”, asked Daga.

“On June 30, MP held a joint meeting with various authorities and despite assurances from all of them, no action is taken,” he added.

Chirag Shah, from Wadala citizen forum, said, “We have been trying to regulate this share taxi menace for the past seven years. The taxi stand is on the Wadala bridge, but they stand outside Wadala station west and drive rashly. There is no will from the RTO (Regional Transport Office) to act on this.”

Anil Jain of the Wadala citizens forum said, “There are 150-200 taxis operating between Antop Hill to Wadala west. People need cabs to go from Wadala East to West, the only two options are taxi and bus.

“The taxi drivers earn money from the number of trips they take; hence they drive rashly. They do not follow traffic rules at all. Whenever we have reached out to the RTO, they have claimed that they are understaffed.”

Jain added, “The RTO has the power to confiscate vehicles and suspend driving licenses, but they do not want to do this. There is at least one incident a month that we hear in our citizen forum, but people are scared to report it because the drivers’ team up.”

Gaurav Singh, DCP, Traffic (South) said, “We have been conducting special drives in the area to penalise the erring share taxis for past few days. The action on the taxis will continue. We had received requests from the residents, and we are acting on it.”

Singh added, “Besides 1,494 actions, on share taxis in Wadala, we are taking regular meetings with all the stakeholders.”

HT Reached out to Vinay Ahire, head of Wadala RTO, he did not respond to calls or messages.