Mumbai crawls thanks to one-day taxi, auto strike; but there's going to be a repeat on Wednesday

Mumbai: Incessant rainfall in the financial capital combined with a day-long strike organised by auto-rickshaw and taxis drivers threw normal life out gear in the city leaving many commuters stranded on Monday. Water-logging was reported across the city and suburbs, and disrupted traffic across the city. Worst hit were school students who were inconvenienced as the school term for many began from Monday. [caption id=“attachment_2296652” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The strike of taxis and autorickshaws was a result of a protest organised by Congress MLA Nitesh Rane-led Swabhiman Union to voice its protest against cab aggregators like Uber and Ola. “This is just a day long strike. So far, we have not received any response from the government. The BJP led state government is functioning like Hitler. They don’t have time to hear the grievances of the public. We are planning to further intensify the strike with rasta roko or other methods in coming days,” KK Tiwari, Mumbai President of Swabhiman Union, told Firstpost. Tiwari added that he was detained by the Mumbai police late night on Sunday and was let off on Monday afternoon to ensure that there was no deterioration of law and order in the city. On 9 June, the union had written to Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state transport minister Diwakar Raote demanding a ban on all mobile-based cab services such as Ola, Uber, Meru Plus and Genie cabs in the city. “We have received the information from transport department that these private taxi aggregators do not have any permits. They are not even registered with the transport department. Despite this, the private taxi aggregators, who have tourist permits, are plying their cabs on local routes and is completely illegal,” the letter stated, adding that no action has been taken on them despite repeated complaints. AL Quadros, who leads the biggest taxi union in the city said they were opposed to the strike and appealed all taxis and autos to come out ‘fearlessly’. “The Swabhiman union has vandalized over 150 taxis since morning and have also threatened others taxi drivers not to ply their taxis,” Quadros said, adding that cases are being registered at different police stations. Police officials said that the appropriate action will be taken if it was found that taxis and autos have been vandalized by any group forcing them to participate in today’s strike. However, Mumbaikars will have to brace for another day-long strike of autos and taxis on Wednesday as another taxi union has called for a bandh for the same reasons. The Shashank Rao-led Mumbai Automen’s Union has also called for a strike on 17 June demanding a ban on private taxi aggregators and seeking action on vehicles that can be called through call centres and minibuses. “It will be a token strike. The state government should look into our demands and take appropriate measures to resolve the issues. It’s affecting our businesses,” Rao said.