After fleecing or refusing passengers for years cabbies want you to pay for taxi stands

For as long as you can remember you have been at the mercy of their whims and their greed begging them to give you a ride on their vehicles resigning yourself to their refusals or squabbling with them over obviously tampered meters The tables are all set to turn as the cityrsquos muchhated taxi drivers will soon be found begging outside railway stations asking members of the general public to lsquocontribute generouslyrsquo so they can build themselves new taxi stands So donrsquot be surprised if you are greeted by woebegone cabbies the next time you step out of a railway station mdash taxi unions are planning to place members outside stations like Churchgate Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus CST Mumbai Central Dadar Kurla Bandra Khar and Borivli The unions say that the move comes in the wake of the governmentrsquos refusal to provide money for the construction of taxi parking stands ldquoWe are expecting the public to help us generate money for taxi stands as the government doesnrsquot have funds for the samerdquo said A Quadros leader of Mumbai Taximenrsquos Union The unions claim that over 1500 taxi stand signboards are missing in the city and suburbs and their absence forces taxi drivers to park haphazardly on the roads File pic The cost of each signboard is pegged at Rs 3000 The unions claim that over 1500 taxi stand signboards are missing in the city and its suburbs and that their absence forces taxi drivers to park haphazardly on the roads The unions added that the government has offered only Rs 20000 asking cab drivers to bear the rest of the expenses themselves lsquoWeakest of the weakrsquo While preparing to hold talks with government officials on the matter the union is also drafting an appeal for the general public The draft makes an attempt to win the sympathy of the public by stating that taxi drivers are the lsquoweakest among the weaker sections of societyrsquo and are struggling to earn their livelihood lsquoMore than 1200 taxi stand signoboards have been stolen and the RTO has failed to reinstall them In the last 14 years the RTO has failed to provide a single such signboard As a result the taxi men have to pay heavy fines to the traffic police The action committees of all taxi unions in the city have now decided to raise funds from the public by beggingrsquo states the draft of the flyer that will be distributed by the cabbies Great expectations Despite the notoriety of taxi drivers for refusing passengers plying rickety uncomfortable vehicles and tampering with meters to fleece passengers the union is confident of winning the publicrsquos support Not surprisingly the taxi unions themselves have no immediate plans for pitching in for the stands that they claim that the cabbies under their protection direly need ldquoWe will first get financial support from the general public and the union will contribute later depending on the needrdquo added Quadros claiming that he expects the public to shell out for the beleaguered cab drivers Other union leaders claimed that they have already initiated the process of replacing 90 per cent of their old vehicles with newer models and made other changes like replacing mechanical meters with electronic ones and are thus confident that the public will be positively disposed towards them and contribute They also claimed that nearly 89 taxi stands have been taken over by payandpark operators while drug addicts have usurped many others Cost factor Cost of one parking stand signboard Rs 3000 Details Metal rod Rs 1200 Patra plate Rs 600 Painting Rs 300 Deposit with BMC permission to break footpath for installation Rs 900 Voices I do not think that I would be too keen on contributing to these unions Ideally it is the government that should pay these people We are already burdened by inflation and making such contributions is out of the question Deepika Sahu 23 When we want taxis they refuse to ply and now they have the audacity to ask us for money I feel like taking them to task rather than giving my hardearned money Paresh Ingle 28 Taxis can be seen randomly parked on roads The cabbies need taxi stands and it is a valid demand Sujit Sonkar 28 1500 The number of signboards that the unions claim are missing in the city and its suburbs