Agitating autorickshaw drivers block 1km road stretch in front of Pune RTO

PUNE: A large number of autorickshaw owners/drivers from 17 autorickshaw unions across Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad resorted to a blockade of a usually busy 1km stretch road in front of the Pune regional transport office (RTO) around 4.30pm on Monday as part of an indefinite strike for a ban on bike taxi services.
The protestors parked their three-wheelers across the road to ensure that there was no vehicular movement either way between the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) Chowk and the Raja Bahadur Mill (RBM) road, which begins from the RTO Chowk to the Jehangir Hospital Chowk. As a result, the Pune police had to take urgent steps to divert the traffic to alternative routes even as negotiations to convince the auto drivers to withdraw the blockade were going on.
"We had given an ultimatum to the RTO authorities that we will block the road stretch and no vehicles will be allowed to ply if our demands are not met by 2pm on Monday. We met Pune RTO Ajit Shinde, but he didn’t give us any satisfying answer. Hence, the road has been blocked and will be opened when our demand on complete stoppage of bike taxis in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad is met,” Keshav Kshirsagar, the president of Baghtoy Rickshawala and Bike Taxi Virodhi Aandolan Samiti, told TOI.
There is a school, some government offices, hotels etc. located along the RBM road and the blockade has resulted in their employees getting stuck in addition to causing trouble to many daily commuters.
Pune’s deputy RTO Sanjiv Bhor told TOI that following notices sent by them, both Ola and Uber have shut down their bike taxi option from their mobile application. “Only Rapido bike taxi service is in operation and they are not shutting down. We have done our bit and now it is up to the police to take action,” the officer said.
Pune’s joint commissioner of police Sandeep Karnik was on the spot and was trying to convince the unions to open the road blockade and end the strike.
Inspector Manisha Zende of the Bund Garden traffic division told TOI, "Around 4.15pm, we started diverting traffic reaching the RTO Chowk from the old Pune-Mumbai highway and Shivajinagar via the COEP to Sancheti hospital and further to Maldhakka chowk.
Zende said, "Vehicles passing from the Bundgarden road and Sassoon road were directed to take a left turn from Jehangir hospital Chowk to Pune railway station for reaching their respective destination."
Earlier, some auto drivers made futile attempts to block the traffic at Shahir Amar Shaikh Chowk but the move received opposition from their own people, she added.