The kaali peeli taxi operators of the city want more time for calibration of the meter. According to the union, the taximen are unable to do the meter calibration due to the unavailability of the chip required for calibration in the market. As per Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport authority direction, meters of all taxis need to be recalibrated by November 30.
Meanwhile, passengers alleged that most of the taxi drivers didn't revise fare chart and were charging as per their own rate.
However, transport department officials said that new fare chart of taxi and rickshaw already uploaded on the website of the transport department and PDF format of the revised chart also shared with all prominent taxi and rickshaw unions of the city.
Apart from that, the transport department also distributed 10,000 revised fare charts among the several taxi unions in the city.
Sudhanshu Sinha, who works with a Fort-based private organisation, said, "I boarded a kali peeli taxi from Masjid to my office, he charged me Rs 85, however, the meter was showing just Rs 70. When I asked for revised chart, he said still need to print."
Similarly Mahesh Kamble, 43, a businessman from Dader said, "Most of the taxi drivers do not have the revised fare chart, for the last five days I traveled thrice by taxi, only one shown the revised fare chart."
Rajbahadur Yadav, 45, who has been driving the taxi in the city for the last 15 years, said, "Union shared with us PDF format of the revised fare chart but need to take a printout." When asked how he was charging the passengers without a revised fare chart, he said, "It's not a tough thing, I was driving the taxi for more than a decade, so I can calculate it mentally."
As per rule, no metered taxi or rickshaw drivers can charge passengers approximately.
When contacted, taxi union leader AL Quadros, said, "We had received around 2,500 revised fare charts, which have been distributed. Apart from that, PDF format of revised fare charts are also being shared with the drivers.” Quadros also appealed to the taxi drivers to use the new fare chart.
Similarly rickshaw union leader Thampy Kurian said, "Using revised fare chart is a must, any one who doesn't have the revised chart can get it from the union office."
