Taxis, autos may be off the road today

By Lalit K. Jha

NEW DELHI, MARCH 28. Capital's public transport system is likely to go out of gear this Thursday in the wake of a strike call by transport operators protesting against the Supreme Court's conditional extension vis-a-vis deployment of environment- friendly CNG kits on public vehicles.

A majority of the city's 80,000 autorickshaws and 15,000 taxis might keep off the roads bringing life to a standstill at railway stations, airports and inter-State bus terminals besides disrupting movement of daily commuters.

The private bus operators, who run 10,000 vehicles, have however decided not to join the strike. The strike call issued by the Federation of Delhi State Transporters is in protest against the Delhi Government's inability to come to their rescue in their "hour of crisis". It is "also to express our disappointment over the Supreme Court's latest directive on CNG-run vehicles which will push us to the verge of starvation,'' said the Federation president, Mr. Jaswant Singh Arora on Wednesday.

A large number of posters announcing the strike have come up across the city that vehicles might be damaged in case they violate the strike call. ``We will hold dharnas and wear black badges," said Mr. Ramesh Chauhan of the All-Delhi Auto Drivers Welfare Congress Union.

The CNG-run autos and taxis, which are not affected by the Supreme Court order, have also decided to join the strike. ``The Government has forcibly imposed digital meters on our vehicles from April 1,'' said an agitated Mr. Virender Rai, a CNG taxi driver at Old Delhi railway station.``We do not even know where these meters are available. Who will shell out Rs. 6,000 each for these?'' rued Mr. Harbhajan Singh Fauji of the All-Delhi Taxi Union.

Mr. Singh, who operates from Ashoka Hotel Taxi Stand, said taxi drivers were not in a position to pay the advance and place ``firm orders'' for CNG vehicles as desired by the Supreme Court.

``We are yet to pay the loans for our old vehicles which will stand reduced to scrap on April 1. And now we are being asked to pay a substantial booking amount for CNG vehicles! What do we do?''

A segment of the auto and taxi drivers have adopted a cautious approach. ``We will not ply our vehicles on Thursday as they might get damaged,'' said a spokesman of Budget-rent-a-Car at New Delhi station. Others said they would wait till 8 a.m. ``If there is violence, we will not ply.''

A section of the taxi drivers at the airport said they would not participate in the strike but would avoid driving downtown fearing damage. ``Almost all of us have converted to CNG and thus we are least affected. So why should we join the strike?''

Private bus operators said they would not join the strike. ``As it is, most of us are going to be off the road from April 1. So it does not matter much to us,'' said Mr. Amarjeet Singh Sehgal and Mr. Shyam Lal Gola, representatives of private bus operators.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Other States
Previous : Students jump into Assembly hall
Next     : No-trust move against speaker rejected