Govt defers ban, asks cab firms to submit safety plan

Deferring the decision to ban web-based taxi services till December 31, the state government has asked the service providers to submit a full-fledged plan to ensure the safety of passengers.

Deferring the decision to ban web-based taxi services till December 31, the state government has asked the service providers to submit a full-fledged plan to ensure the safety of passengers.

Transport minister Diwakar Raote made a statement in this connection in the state legislature on Thursday. He said the Centre has asked for the suspension of web-based taxi service providers, who are not registered.

“The transport commissioner held a meeting with all operators on Wednesday and asked to submit a safety plan by December 31.” He also said the companies were asked to share the details of their drivers.

Transport secretary SK Sharma had said on Wednesday the government had issued the transport commissioner a directive to ban web-based taxi services. But after a meeting in Nagpur on Thursday, the state decided to give the operators time to submit a safety plan.

During meeting with the taxi service aggregators on Wednesday, transport commissioner Mahesh Zagade had sought all details of drivers before 12pm on Thursday.

Sources said an advocate of Uber visited the commissioner’s office and conveyed inability to provide the data as their server is based in the Netherlands.
Despite repeated attempts, Sharma or Zagade remained unavailable for comments.