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Autorickshaw drivers in Navi Mumbai decided to continue their strike on Saturday despite the unions calling off the strike on Friday.
The strike began as an indefinite one after the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) mandated a reduction in fare from Rs 15 to Rs 11 for the first 1.6 km and the current Rs 9.50 to Rs 7 for every additional km. It was called off on Friday when the RTO promised autorickshaw drivers that the issue of revision of auto fares in the city would be put before the state government.
The new tariff was to come into effect from last Monday and put Navi Mumbai on par with rates in Mumbai. But autorickshaw drivers decided to strike in protest. Vijay Gadge, an autorickshaw driver in Nerul said, "In Mumbai, autorickshaw drivers earn good profits because they run in a larger area. Navi Mumbai is a smaller city.
Maintenance, repair and spare parts' rates are almost double here." He added, "There are fewer CNG gas stations in Navi Mumbai, so we have to travel an additional 3-4 km to fill CNG gas."
The union meanwhile said, "We are going to meet the guardian minister of Navi Mumbai Ganesh Naik to come up with a solution," said Kasam Mulani, president of the
Navi Mumbai Rickshaw Mahasangh. | 
