Mumbai: Top gallerist bruised in cab accident; Uber's response: Rs 100 refund

Wellknown art connoisseur and gallerist Jamal Mecklai 66 recently had a troubled ride with Uber The Uber vehicle in which he was travelling to Colaba met with an accident on Peddar Road on June 26 But more than the accident itrsquos the way Uber has barely reacted to the incident that has troubled MecklaiJamal Mecklai CEO of Mecklai Financials shows one of his injuries apart from those he sustained on his shin shoulder and arms in the accident He says Uber did not even enquire about him PicsSneha KharabeMecklai was travelling from Mahalaxmi and took a cab at around 1230 pm ldquoI was talking over the cell phone when suddenly there was a jerk and crash Our vehicle had rammed the vehicle in frontrdquo said MecklaiAfter that Mecklai claimed that the driver terminated the journey and he was billed R100 for the ride ldquoI got a message of money being deducted I was hurt and had cuts and bruises on my knees shin shoulder and armsrdquo he saidHe then took a regular blackandyellow cab and while on his way he contacted Uber to complain about the accident He also took to Twitter where he wrote about the incident and later sent emails to Uber ldquoBut he did not get a response from Uber They did not even bother enquiring about his injuries or the trauma that he underwentrdquo said Pravina Mecklai his wife who owns Jamaat art galleryHerersquos a refundThe series of complaints resulted only in a single email response about the R100 that was deducted as being refunded to his account Gradually as the day progressed Mecklairsquos pain became severe Pravina said that he had XRays done to check for internal injuries or fracturesldquoThey have my contact number and other details yet I did not receive a single call enquiring about my wellbeing These techfriendly taxi services are easy to use but they need to improve their service At times like these we realise that their policies are flawed and they need to be addressedrdquo added MecklaiThe mobile aggregators have introduced an SOS button system in their applications that could be used in such incidents But officials believe that not many know about it The SOS button will immediately inform the mobile aggregators about any unwarranted incident or event and in the long run officials from Transport department said that it will be connected to the police control room tooDelayed schemeThe state government is sitting on the City Taxi Scheme 2015 which would bring clarity to the system ldquoThe City Taxi Scheme 2015 is expected to get clearance from the Cabinet soon This will bring things under controlrdquo said Transport Commissioner Shyam WardhaneRecently Transport Minister Diwakar Raote claimed that the policy has been forwarded to the Chief Ministerrsquos office for clearanceUber saysA spokesperson from Uber said ldquoWe were in touch with the rider ever since he first wrote to us We have sent three emails asking him for a specific time for us to talk to him as wellrdquo