On day of fare hike,taxis and autorickshaws bring city to a halt

Earlier,the government had assured them of a decision on Tuesday after discussion with leaders of taxi and autorikshaw unions.

Two important taxi and autorickshaw unions in the city are headed by Sharad Rao and A N Quadros,and both of them denied having taken part in Tuesday’s strike.

The Rane father-son duo are in the US and Nitesh sent a press release saying,“The increase in fuel price is detrimental to livelihoods of auto and taxi drivers. The intention was not to bring Mumbai to a halt but make Mumbaikars aware of the woes.”

“We had informed the government of our decision to go on strike. We had demanded a fare increase for yellow-black taxis,autorickshaws and cool cabs. But the government ignored us and did not include us in the important meeting on Tuesday,” said Swabhiman union president K K Tiwari.

He added the government did not include the union probably because it is new. “We wanted to show through the strike that we are not small. Although formed seven months ago,our union has 24,000 autorickshaw and taxi drivers as members,higher than other unions,” Tiwari said.

They had demanded that the minimum fare of regular taxis be increased from Rs 14 to Rs 18,cool cabs from Rs 17.50 to Rs 21 and autorickshaws from Rs 9 to Rs 13.

“Taxi and autorickshaw drivers are poor. With increased cost of CNG,it is necessary to increase fare. Our intention was not to affect the common man. But someone has to think about bread and butter of drivers,” Tiwari said.

To avoid a strike on June 15,the state had formed a committee of union leaders to negotiate their demands and the strike was deferred to June 28. Transport Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil who attended today’s meeting expressed anger at the strike and asked drivers to get vehicles back on the road under police protection or face action under ESMA.

Tiwari said the strike wouldn’t have taken place had the Swabhiman been invited for talks. “Now that one of our demands has been met,we are asking drivers to start taking commuters. We will agitate for other demands by other means,not a strike.”