30,000 taxis stay off city roads seeking immediate fare revision

Parama Gupta, assistant professor of WCC, said, “The unannounced strike caught us off-guard. I usually take taxi to reach my college in the afternoon. I kept on trying various means to book a call taxi in the city. With no other option, I took an auto-rickshaw.”

According to the drivers, the tariff was last revised way back in 1981. “We want the government to revise the tariff immediately. Raising this demand, we had originally planned to stage a protest in front of the Transport office in Chepauk after taking permission from the city police. But it was cancelled in the last-minute citing elections,” said M Boopathi, general secretary, Tamil Nadu Call Taxi Thozhilalargal Sangam (CITU).

The associations went ahead with the protest, which went on till 6 pm.

“It is a long pending demand. It is unfair to force us to follow the old tariff. Currently, we are charging Rs 5 per kilometer and Rs 10 for each additional kilometer,” said B Anbazhagan, the general secretary of Chennai Managara Motor Vagana Thozhilalar Sangam.

Meanwhile, after persistent efforts, cab aggregator Ola has agreed to hold talks with the various drivers’ unions on Friday.

“We have urged the cab aggregator to send a representative who has the authority to take decision. We are hoping to find an amicable solution in this matter,” said a senior police officer. The talks will be held at the office of the Assistant Commissioner (Guindy) at 10.30 am.