By Apurva Bhatt
More than a million officer goers in the suburbs, Thane and Navi Mumbai will be inconvenienced today as autorickshaws won't ply today. The strike will especially affect feeder and share routes near railway stations. It will affect officegoers and long-distance passengers arriving at LTT, Bandra Terminus and Borivli stations. To mitigate its effects, the government has allowed private cabs to operate as public transport vehicles. Also, 100 additional State Transport (ST) buses will be deployed in Mumbai.
The strike, which follows Nitesh Rane's taxi strike on Monday, has been called by the Mumbai Autorickshawmen's Union, which is led by Shashank Rao, to press demands for a ban on aggregator cab services like Ola and Uber within Mumbai and for the Hakim committee fare hike formula to be continued.
The strike has been opposed by rival unions like those of Thampy Kurien and the Shiv Sena, who have asked affiliated drivers to ply. Also, as an anti-strike measure, Uber will disable its dynamic pricing and implement a flat rate for today, which it said could increase demand and affect the availability of cabs.
Commuting options for the day include BEST and ST buses, fleet cabs like Meru and TabCab, aggregators, black-&-yellow taxis, and car-pooling through social networking sites.
Remarks Rajesh Joshi from Ghatkopar, “I use auto everyday to commute to Vikhroli since no bus service is available to go. But today I will hav eto take train and than walk to my office.”
A senior transport official warned that striking drivers and union activists could be booked under the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act (MESMA).
Since the strike call is also for Thane, Navi Mumbai and other regions, office-goers in Thane, Vashi, Kalyan, Dombivli, Sanpada and Kharghar will be badly hit as they depend on share autos to travel 3-8km to the railway station daily.
A few citizens' groups have offered carpooling for Wednesday through social networking sites. Fleet cabs like Meru and TabCab reported full bookings for early Wednesday morning.
Among Rao's other demands are social welfare schemes for auto drivers, quick issue of permits to those on waiting list, giving 'public servant' status to drivers, scrapping the Centre's Road Transport Safety Bill and issuing badges to drivers who have had commercial licences for three years.
