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'Politicians, aggregators hand in glove... looting us, commuters': Bengaluru auto unions demand ban on Ola, Uber, Rapido in 7 days

If no action is taken, we will gherao the transport minister: Unions
Last Updated 11 October 2022, 10:55 IST

A day after the transport department began cracking down on auto rickshaws running through Ola, Uber and Rapido, a joint committee of Auto Rickshaw drivers' unions set a 7-day deadline for the government to ban all taxi aggregator apps.

In a press conference where emotions ran high, leaders of 13 auto rickshaw unions and associations said they have been demanding action against the aggregators for the last seven years but "politicians and officials have been hand in glove" with the cab aggregators to "loot" both the drivers and commuters.

Many cited the Kerala government-backed 'Yatri' app that offers taxi services as per fares fixed by the government and demanded that the Karnataka government should develop a similar one for the benefit of drivers and passengers. If the government really wanted to help, drivers said, it could have done it long ago considering Bengaluru’s position as the IT capital.

"The government should ban all taxi aggregators apps, including the bike-taxi aggregators, within the next seven days. If no action is taken, we will gherao the transport minister’s house. We are not calling for a strike keeping in mind the needs of commuters and drivers. But we will resort to it if there is no action," said M Manjunath, president of Adarsh Auto and Taxi Drivers Union.

C N Srinivas of the Auto Rickshaw Drivers' Union slammed the Transport Department for penalising drivers and seizing auto rickshaws for operating through aggregators. "Then they claim that the action was taken as part of a regular check of violations. Ola and Uber companies have taken away our rightful earnings to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees. We have been demanding action for years," he said.

G S Kumar from the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike's taxi drivers' association said the government has no concern for either the commuters or drivers. "If they can ban silly apps like TikTok, why can't they ban the aggregator apps which are openly robbing the people and the drivers," he asked.

Bike taxi

A joint statement by the associations noted that bike taxis have been allowed to run without any licence for two years. “The motor vehicle act doesn’t allow private vehicles to be run as commercial vehicles. But the department has allowed it for the past few years. No effort has been made to stop the illegal operations,” it said.

The statement also demanded the government to issue a public statement calling upon people not to use the aggregator apps.

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(Published 11 October 2022, 07:31 IST)

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