Delhi government acted against 8,000 cabs for surge pricing

Of the 8,291 taxis, 1,873 were impounded under provisions of the Motor Vehicles Rules for violations under various sections.

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Many cabs running under Uber and Ola were impounded for allegedly being operated by parent companies, which the Delhi government has deemed “illegal” as they do not have valid licences. The cab companies, meanwhile, do not adhere to the government-mandated rules for taxis because they claim they are merely “aggregators”.

The AAP government has been trying to rein in the private players, especially after they were caught charging demand-driven peak prices.

The autorickshaw unions, who have been demanding that the companies be banned altogether because they have been eating into the livelihoods of autorickshaw drivers, however, said the prosecutions were useless.

“What is the use of prosecutions? They pay a fine and get back on the roads. The government has still not brought out a policy on regulating these cab companies, though it had promised to do so almost a year ago,” said Rajender Soni, general secretary of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Auto Union.