April 19, 2012
Close to 30,000 taxis will remain off the roads in Kolkata city demanding a fare hike. The associations of taxi operators are demanding for more than 35 percent hike in fares.
Bimal Guha, the president of Bengal Taxi Association says, “The minimum fare should be raised to Rs 30 from the current Rs 22. The West Bengal government has last enhanced taxi-fare in August 2009.”
April 19, 2012
Close to 30,000 taxis will remain off the roads in Kolkata city demanding a fare hike. The associations of taxi operators are demanding for more than 35 percent hike in fares.
Bimal Guha, the president of Bengal Taxi Association says, “The minimum fare should be raised to Rs 30 from the current Rs 22. The West Bengal government has last enhanced taxi-fare in August 2009.”
“We are going on for a 24-hour strike starting today. Hike in overall fares and a further 20 percent increase in night rates, addressing problems pertaining to license renewals and extension of deadline for applications of new meters are some of our demands,” Guha was quoted as saying to reporters.
However, the state government has already ruled out the proposition and the taxi operators association has threatened an indefinite strike, if the demands are not met.
Taxi operators also allege that the city police is levying excessive fines from taxi drivers. Earlier this month, taxi services in the city were disrupted following the Calcutta High Court order making it mandatory for all cabs to have tamper-proof digital meters. Thousands of cabs were unable to ply on the city roads for not abiding by the mandate.
The Calcutta High Court had, in September last year, set a six-month deadline for all taxis in the city to install tamper-proof meters with a built-in printer which can provide fare bills mentioning the vehicle number, distance travelled, name of the driver and his contact details.
Earlier in the first week of April, auto-rickshaw operators observed strike in protest against sharp rise in auto-LPG prices in Kolkata vis-à-vis ban on fare-hike. Auto LPG prices have moved up by nearly Rs 6.50 a litre (or nearly 14 per cent) in the last one month. The state government has already conducted two rounds of meetings with the auto-operators.
Courtesy: thaindian
