Tricity Cab Association members protest illegal plying of taxis
Chandigarh, September 26
Members of the Tricity Cab Association today held a protest as a majority of their issues remained pending for a long time.
In a memorandum submitted to the UT Administrator, the association stated that unauthorised companies were operating in the tricity and private number cars and bike taxis were being used by authorised aggregators. There was no implementation of new fare policy by the STA and aggregators and local permit vehicles of Punjab and Haryana are being fined in their own capital.
The association stated that the UT Administration should stop plying of private unauthorised bikes and cabs by aggregators.
Huge revenue loss to government
These unauthorised bikes and cabs are not only eating away our earning but also cost huge revenue loss to the government. —Vikram Singh, President of the Tricity Cab Association
“We are contributing so many taxes such as road tax, state tax, toll tax, GST, All-India permit fee, local permit fee, commercial insurance and also paying huge amount of fare in the form of commission to aggregator companies,” said Vikram Singh, president of the association.
“As per the Motor Vehicle Act, it is illegal to ply private number cars and motorcycles as commercial passenger vehicle. A few companies registered as aggregators with the State Transport Authority have been illegally attaching these private number cars and motorcycles as commercial vehicles. Registered aggregators are not only breaching the law but also so many illegal companies are operating in the tricity without obtaining licence in Chandigarh,” said the president.
As per RTI reply by the STA, no aggregator has been granted any licence by the STA to operate bike taxi service. The association requested the Administrator to take action against these companies to off-road these illegal private number bikes and cars being used as commercial vehicle.
“These unauthorised bikes and cabs are not only eating away our earning but also cost huge revenue loss to the government,” he said.
Other demands include implementing fare of taxis as decided by the STA, granting permission to vehicles having local permit of Punjab and Haryana to ply in their own capital city and putting limitations on new attachment of vehicles with aggregators.
“Earlier aggregator companies used to attach a limited number of cabs. With limited customers but unlimited cabs, earning has been divided in such a way that no cab operator is getting enough earning even after working 15-16 hours a day,” said Singh.
Commuters a harried lot
Commuters faced inconvenience as app-based cab services remained paralysed for several hours on Monday. A large number of cab operators and drivers started assembling near the YPS Chowk around 9 am on Monday to proceed towards Raj Bhawan, but they were stopped by the police. The protesters remained there till 2 pm. Meanwhile, the cab service remained affected during this period.
