PUNE: Ola drivers, who had been protesting against the faulty policies of the management for the past two days, called off their strike late on Wednesday following acceptance of their demands. Uber drivers, who had also joined in the strike, decided to continue with their agitation though their representatives are likely to meet MNS leaders on Thursday.
An Ola spokesperson said that it had decided to accept some of the demands of drivers like taking back terminated drivers after police verification, putting up Marathi posters in the cab etc. Ola also decided to look seriously into drivers’ payment issue.
In a statement, the cab aggregator said, “Ola would like to apologise to all its customers for the inconvenience caused due to factors beyond its control. With every passing hour, our cabs are fast getting back on the road to service the mobility needs of all customers. Thank you for your continued trust and understanding.”
Meanwhile, at least seven members of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena, which had been spearheading a strike by Ola and Uber cab drivers, were arrested on Tuesday evening for damaging a cab and threatening its driver near
Katraj Chowk on Katraj-Dehu Road bypass. The members allegedly attacked the cab for defying the strike call.
The incident occurred around 2pm on the same day. Cab driver Amit Barke (30) of Somwar Peth lodged a complaint following which police arrested the seven suspects. The Bharati Vidyapeeth Police has identified them as Gajanan Patil, Jaydutta Rupnar, Arvind Bhosale, Arun Bhosale, Shahaji Patil, Prakash Bhosale and Girish Pandhare, all residents of Ambegaon.
Police said, the suspects wielded party flags and shouted slogans on the road. They spotted the car and brought it to a halt at the spot. The suspects then damaged the windshield of the car with sticks.
Commuters faced the brunt of the strike on Wednesday as most cabbies preferred not to take out their cabs out on the streets, fearing attacks from certain agitating groups.
Many daily commuters said that they had issues finding cabs. The saving grace for them was that Ola auto rickshaw service was running normally.
Kondhwa resident
Ajinkya Devadiga said, “I had to go to the airport to receive a relative and despite several attempts, I was unable to find a cab. Then I booked an Ola auto rickshaw to reach the airport. However, no cabs were ready to ply from the airport and some of them, who agreed, told me I will have to leave the cab if it was stopped at any place. My relative had a lot of luggage and thus we took the risk. Fortunately, the cab was not stopped anywhere and we reached home.”
Some, however, said that they didn’t face any issue. at all.
