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Home > Mumbai > Mumbai News > Article > Now cab drivers threaten strike

Now, cab drivers threaten strike

Updated on: 03 October,2011 08:17 AM IST  | 
Bipin Kumar Singh |

Members of the largest taxi drivers' union in Mumbai have claimed that the RTO is victimising innocent members on trumped up charges of rigging their meters; have threatened to go on strike if crackdown continues

Now, cab drivers threaten strike

Members of the largest taxi drivers' union in Mumbai have claimed that the RTO is victimising innocent members on trumped up charges of rigging their meters; have threatened to go on strike if crackdown continues

RTOu00a0crackdown on tampered meters


Less than a fortnight after auto drivers held the city ransom to a brazen strike, cabbies are preparing to follow suit. Alleging that the recent RTO crackdown on the city's taxi drivers was nothing but a stunt to impress higher ups in the transport department, members of the Mumbai Taximen's Union -- the largest taxi driver's union in the city -- have threatened to retaliate with a strike, if the penalisations continue.


'TAMPER' TANTRUMS: The taxi union chief condemned the RTO officials,
claiming that cabbies in the city are being booked on false charges.
FILE PIC


In a letter addressed to the RTO (central region) dated October 1, AL Quadros, the president of the union, threatened to call for a citywide taxi strike, if the crackdowns continue. The RTO at Tardeo has nabbed over three-dozen cab drivers with tampered meters since it initiated a drive on September 27.

"I condemn the action taken by RTO officials against taxi drivers in the past week. They are booking taxi drivers on false charges, just to make their bosses happy. These officers are set targets for the number of rigged meters they have to detect, and they simply victimise innocent taxi drivers to fulfil these targets," said AL Quadros, president of the Mumbai Taximen's Union.

He added, "I have written a letter to the RTO, asking the officials to put an immediate end to this kind of illegal action. If this continues, we will have no option but to protest, and will go on strike if necessary."
Quadros, however, admitted that the cabbies fined by the Andheri RTO recently had indeed rigged their meters.

RTO says
When approached by MiD DAY, a senior official from the Tardeo RTO said, "No cab drivers have been detained on trumped up charges, and the crackdowns will continue at different junctions falling under our jurisdiction."

48,000
Number of taxis plying in the city

70%
The percentage of the total taxis that have tamper-proof electronic meters



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