Chennai: Ola, Uber cab drivers stage flash protest, demand revision of tariff rates amid fuel price hike

As on July 2, petrol was priced at Rs 99.80 per litre and diesel at Rs 93.72 per litre in Chennai.

Initially, the drivers staged a sit-in protest near Chepauk but around 3 pm, they took their vehicles and parked on the buzzing Anna Salai road. This led to a massive traffic congestion for over an hour in the area.

#Ola, #Uber taxi drivers resorted to a flash protest on Anna Salai in Chennai. They demanded the aggregators to provide them higher tariff in accordance with the current fuel prices. The police have cleared the traffic congestion, few drivers have been detained. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/7sQ9jDMLpT

— Janardhan Koushik (@koushiktweets) July 2, 2021

The traffic police soon swung into action and convinced the drivers to clear their vehicles. Though they cleared the way on Anna Salai, the barrage of vehicles led to traffic snarls in other areas.

Drivers have claimed that the cab aggregators take away 30 per cent commission per ride and demanded that this be brought down considering the lockdown and current fuel prices.

“Police are threatening to arrest us. They took away our mobile phones and vehicle keys. We protested in a quiet manner till afternoon, but there was no response from the company management and hence, we came here. Just like how people in other sectors ask for salary hikes, we asked them to increase our pay. We are not able to run our vehicles with the current fuel prices. The government should intervene and fix this issue,” a driver, who participated in the protest, said told reporters.

Meanwhile, the police detained a set of drivers and proceeded to clear the traffic.

According to reports, a sector of Ola, Uber drivers have been on strike since Wednesday protesting against the hike in diesel prices. Amid a deficit of vehicles, the cab aggregators reportedly charged passengers more than the normal fare. The waiting time for passengers was also considerably increased.