JOIN USThe City government’s second phase of odd-even scheme faces a litmus test on Monday — the first official working day since the anti-pollution drive kicked off with schools reopening after the holidays.
The AAP government’s road rationing plan will be judged on the arrangements made for schoolchildren’s pick and drop as autorickshaw and taxi unions plan to go on strike on Monday.
Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai wrote to Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung on Sunday and sought adequate deployment of police force on city roads in view of the strike called by autorickshaw and taxi unions on Monday.
“During the last strike in March, it was seen that autorickshaw drivers ferrying commuters were beaten up by the protesters,” Rai said in the letter. “Unions affiliated with the BJP and the RSS have decided to go on strike on Monday. So we request you (L-G) to make sure adequate police personnel hare being deployed so that autorickshaw and taxi drivers can operate without fear,” he added.
Rai also met representatives of autorickshaw and taxi unions on Sunday, but Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, the association which has called the strike, said that it was not invited to the meeting.
Sources said those unions who met the transport minister are not taking part in the strike. But Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh affiliated autorickshaw and taxi union will go on strike on Monday. “We will go on strike as the city government is not able to regulate the private cabs. They charge Rs 5 to Rs 6 per km whereas our kali-pilli taxi charge Rs 25 for the first km and Rs 14 thereafter for every km. We are loosing out customers,” said Rajinder Soni, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh Auto-Taxi Union’s general secretary.
“We are staging a 24-hour long sit in outside the Delhi Secretariat starting Sunday evening,” he added.