Mumbai: After the rickshawmen's association wrote to the state government, the representative body of 'kaali-peeli' taxis followed suit.
Mumbai Taximen's Union (MTU) has written to CM Thackeray and transport minister Anil Parab urging the government to allow 3+1 passengers in the taxis.
Ahead of state government's unlocking programme 'Mission Begin Again' in June, taxis and autorickshaws were allowed to carry a maximum of two passengers at a time, that too on an essential basis. As the government allowed more relaxations in July, it refrained from allowing any relief to the taximen.
"The essential passengers consist of 10 per cent of total taxi users which now has become 5 per cent due to the restrictions imposed. Rest 20 per cent of the taxi passengers are tourists who have stopped commuting in the middle of lockdown, the remaining 70 per cent of the passengers who have been using taxis are traders and private firm employees whom we are not allowed to ferry in our taxis," stated Al Quadros, General Secretary, MTU.
"The entire taxi fleet of the city are now being used by only 5 per cent of our riders, that too by maintaining restrictions. Many of employees often report to the office on alternate days," added Quadros.
In the letter, he stated that more than 2,000 taxis have been detained by Mumbai traffic police and more than 3,000 taxi drivers have received E-challans from the police.
"The government's restrictions are applicable to aggregators as well. The police take no action on aggregator cabs even when they are seen ferrying more than two passengers whereas at the same time they have detained thousands of taxis and have forced the drivers who have no income since last three months to pay pending amount of fines," stated Quadros.
The representative body of taxis also demanded a hike in the minimum base fares of kaali-peeli taxis by Rs 3.
"We would request the government to revise the minimum taxi fare from Rs 22 to Rs 25 at the earliest," stated the letter.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) has approved a Khatua committee formula for calculating hikes in autorickshaw fares in the MMR region.
