Image for representational purpose only.
BENGALURU: The Transport department will form a committee under the principal secretary of the department to probe the issues faced by cab drivers, and to settle the differences between them and cab aggregators in the city.
The decision was made following a meeting of different stakeholders at Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s home office Krishna in Bengaluru on Tuesday. During the meeting, while associations of various cab drivers pressed for an ‘Ola and Uber mukth’ Karnataka, representatives of cab aggregators have assured the CM to take steps and ensure that the disputes between the drivers and aggregators are settled.
During the meeting, Kumaraswamy directed principal secretary of the Transport department to form the committee. The committee, along with representatives from the government and cab aggregators, will also have office-bearers of various cab driver organisations along its ranks. Among the problems that the committee is mandated to delve on, include the non-payment of arrears to drivers, repeated cases of promised incentives unpaid and an absence of customer service centres for cab aggregators, among others.
Speaking to The New Indian Express following the closed-door meeting, Basavaraj B Y of Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation (KSTDC) drivers association said that the drivers operating KSTDC cabs have been subject to several problems, due to which they were suffering losses. “We have requested the CM to at least reduce the high parking fees levied to us, due to which frequent visitors to airport end up paying close to Rs 20,000 as parking fees alone,” he claimed.
Tanveer Pasha, president of Ola, TaxiForSure and Uber Drivers and Owners Association said that the daily earnings of the cab drivers have dropped, and they are made to work extra hours. “While companies take a lion’s share of the profit, the drivers who invest in and maintain the vehicles are left with almost nothing due to the policies of the aggregators,” he said. He also alleged that the customers are being looted in the name of dynamic pricing, while the department looked the other way.S Hameed Akbar Ali of Karnataka Taxi Owners, Drivers and Operators Association urged the government to ensure a single pricing system for all the cabs across the state.
