Cab drivers at Dushehra Ground in Sector 62, Mohali, on Tuesday. (Express photo by Jasbir Malhi)
FOLLOWING A deadlock between cab operators and the administration, UT Adviser Manoj Parida said that the entry fee in Chandigarh was cheaper than neighbouring states and “there should be no reason to default”. Parida gave a deadline stating that the dues have to be paid not later than March 31, else they will start penalising the car drivers.
The State Transport Authority (STA) has been asked to suspend the drive to challan the cabs for now.
Due to the ongoing strike in Mohali and cab fares seeing a sudden surge, Parida convened an urgent meeting on Tuesday of all the officers, including those from the transport department. He said that UT has decided to give time till February 15 to the cab aggregators to clear the pending dues, else they will start penalising them after March 31.
The meeting was held at the UT Secretariat to sort out the issues of Ola and Uber.
During the meeting, Parida clarified that the pending government revenue has to be paid. According to the On Demand Transport Aggregators Rules 2017, an entry fee of Rs 1,000 per cab has to be paid every quarter by the aggregators. From 2018 onwards, dues of Rs 8,000 per cab driver are pending and there are 6,600 cabs operating in the Tricity.
Adviser Parida stated that since the entry fee of UT is only Rs 333 per month, which is much cheaper than the neighbouring states, “there should be no reason for the default”.
“As a special case, it has been decided that all stakeholders may be allowed to make payment of first two quarters of current financial year by February 15 while the remaining needs to be cleared by March 31, 2020, after which a special drive will be started by the transport and traffic department to penalise the defaulters for non-payment,” he said.
Parida advised the agencies to promote green vehicles, so that Chandigarh remains a green capital of the country.
The STA allowed Ola and Uber to offer their services in 2017 and the department has sought unpaid dues for nine quarters. Last year, it had recovered around Rs 68 lakh from the transport aggregators on account of the unpaid licence fee.
The STA has already challaned over 20 taxis of these two companies for non-payment of dues but now the challan drive has been suspended for now.
Harjeet Sandhu, Additional Secretary, STA, said, “Now after we have got orders of giving them time, we have directed suspension of the challan drive. It is only after March 31 that we will begin challaning them.”
Cab drivers continue protest, submit memo
THE ONLINE cab drivers continued their strike on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum about their demands to the Chandigarh State Transport Commissioner. The cab drivers said that since the representatives of their companies did not meet them, they decided to continue the strike.
Satinder Singh, president of Mohali Cab Driver Association, said that they submitted the memorandum highlighting the issue of taxes which the cab drivers have to pay in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. He added that they discussed the issue with the STA at length and after hearing them, the STA asked the representatives of the companies to meet him on Wednesday.
“We shall remain present during the meeting. We shall take up with companies our issues, including the issue of margin in fares and increasing the rates of per kilometre fare,” Singh said.
The cab drivers have been protesting since January 30 at Phase VIII Dussehra ground and demanding the reduction in company share of the fare and issue of paying taxes in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh separately.
Singh said their strike would continue indefinitely until their demands were met. He added that the companies were not listening to them and exploiting the drivers.
People continued to suffer with a surge in cab fares and lesser availability of cabs in the city. The people living in Kharar and outer areas in Mohali, including sectors 105 and 104, had to face difficulty in getting cabs. (ENS)