Marathi rule crackdown: Migrant auto, taxi drivers claim ‘harassment’, block Kandivali Link Road in protest

“We were being constantly harassed and stopped by native Marathi speakers and asked to learn the language by hook or by crook, forcing us to take this step,” said Sunil Yadav, a non-Marathi driver in Maharashtra.

Working knowledge of the language has been made mandatory for all non-Marathi auto and taxi drivers in Maharashtra. The decision was taken after an inspection by the Mira Bhayandar RTO revealed that several auto drivers lacked basic Marathi proficiency. It was then that Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik declared that they all had to learn Marathi.

‘Divide among auto-rickshaw community’

Sunil Yadav, who hails from Uttar Pradesh, claimed the Marathi enforcement campaign across the state was creating a divide within what he described as an otherwise peaceful auto-rickshaw community.

He also claimed that those lacking proficiency in the Marathi language were being fined Rs 5,000, questioning how a driver earning around Rs 500 a day could afford such a huge penalty.

The drivers’ protest, which lasted about 1.5 hours, came on the fourth day of the Transport Department’s statewide campaign against drivers lacking “functional knowledge of Marathi”.

The non-Marathi-speaking drivers blocked roads near Laljipada (Express Photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Starting August 20, RTO officials across Maharashtra began issuing notices to those who have not yet learned the language, giving them a month to comply.

In the first two days of the campaign, approximately 8,000 auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) were checked for Marathi proficiency, and 1,326 notices served.

 

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Many protesters said they have been unable to secure places in the Marathi education centers to learn the language. Consequently, under the ‘Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Marathi Shikvani Abhiyan’, only 1.25 lakh auto-rickshaw and taxi permit holders completed the programme, while over 17,000 were still awaiting completion, and 7,750 had to reappear for the exam as of August 15.