WB Transport dept to cancel taxi permits for passenger refusal

Heeding complaints that drivers of the new fleet of no-refusal taxis were refusing passengers on various pretexts, West Bengal Transport minister Madan Mitra today warned that their permits would be cancelled.
"We are told that no-refusal taxi drivers are making excuses like going for lunch or to the garage or that they are ill," Mitra told reporters here.
"They should not forget that if we can give them permits we can also take them back. We have kept a clause for that," he said.
Guaranteeing 'no refusal' to passengers, a new fleet of taxis coloured blue and white instead of the normal yellow had hit the roads in the metropolis last December.

But passengers complained that the new taxis were also refusing passengers like the yellow ones.
Mitra asked passengers to lodge complaints with toll-free number 1073 after which the permits of the blue and yellow taxis would be forfeited by the Motor Vehicles department.
On complaints against taxi drivers in Howrah, Mitra said he had asked the Howrah police commissioner to increase vigil and act on refusal complaints.