Taxis to go off city roads for sixth time in less than a month

Taxis will be off the city roads tomorrow, for the sixth time since August 7, in support of various demands including a fare hike and dropping of legal proceedings against 450 taxi-owners.
Several taxi unions would also hold rallies to press for their demands, INTUC leader Ramen Pandey said.
"There will be no taxis plying on city roads tomorrow and we will host a series of rallies to create pressure on the government to pay heed to our demands," Pandey said.
Besides fare hike, the unions are demanding the state government to drop legal proceedings against 450 taxis and put a stop to imposing penalty of Rs 3,000 for passenger refusal, a common practice among the city's cabbies.

"We had given the state government time till September 2 to take a call on our demands. They have neither called us for any meeting nor has given us a solution. So we have decided to take this step," he said.
Asked whether the strike would continue for a longer period, Pandey said that would be decided depending on the government's attitude during tomorrow's strike.

"It's the government who has forced us to go for tomorrow's strike and we will decide whether to carry on with it for the subsequent days depending on how many of our drivers are arrested tomorrow and how many drivers the police books during the strike," Pandey stated.

"People should hold the state government responsible for tomorrow's strike... Even today they threatened our drivers. If they continue with this attitude tomorrow, if police continue with their atrocities and force drivers to take out cars we will surely continue our strike beyond tomorrow," CITU leader Anadi Sahu warned.
Twenty-two drivers were arrested on the charge of committing vandalism during a protest on August 7 and taxis went off the roads on five earlier occasions since August 11 demanding their unconditional release. The arrested were later released on bail.