Uber effect: Maharashtra govt bans all web-based taxi services

Mumbai: In the wake of the alleged rape of a 27-year-old woman by an Uber cab driver in Delhi, the Maharashtra Government has banned all web-based taxi services in the state, reports said. “Orders have been issued to the Transport Commissioner to stop all the web-based cab booking services. He will take the required action immediately. Now, it is only a matter of time before the order is implemented by the Commissioner,” Transport Secretary SK Sharma told PTI here on Wednesday. CNN-IBN reported that the Transport Minister will make a statement on the ban in the state assembly today. [caption id=“attachment_1844399” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP image[/caption] The move comes after the state government received Centre’s advice to ban all web-based taxi services, he said. “We have taken the decision to ban the web-based taxi services after due consideration,” Sharma added. The alleged rape incident in the national capital had taken place on Friday night when the victim, who works for a finance company in Gurgaon, was heading back to her home in north Delhi’s Inderlok area. Shiv Kumar Yadav, who was driving the Uber cab, had sexually assaulted the woman. Following outrage over the incident, the Delhi government had banned Uber and all web-based cab booking services which had not taken any regulatory approval from the transport authorities. The ban on the web-based taxi services comes just a day after the state transport department asked private taxi aggregators to submit database of the drivers by Thursday afternoon and has asked them to submit a plan on passengers’ safety measures by 31 December. The transport department also warned private taxi aggregators to implement a passenger safety plan by 15 January, 2015. On Wednesday, the transport department held a meeting with representatives of Uber, TaxiForSure, Meru, TabCab, Cabzo, Ola and Priyadarshani on the issue of passenger safety and security. with PTI inputs