Commuters in Delhi-NCR may face hardship in hiring taxis on Tuesday as the drivers of two app-based cab aggregators Ola and Uber have threatened to go off roads for a day against "low fares".
This is the second round of strike called by the drivers. They had gone on strike in February too, which had lasted 13 days, causing inconvenience to commuters in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad.
The strike might hit private transport service in Delhi and neighbouring cities as some groups of tourist taxi providers, autorickshaw union, as per agitating Sarvodaya Drivers' Association, have extended their support to it.
The Association, which claims to represent around 1.25 lakh app-based taxis in the the Delhi-NCR, demands that fares be increased from existing Rs 6 per km to around 20 per km.
It also demands abolition of 25 per cent commission the drivers are charged by companies. Ravi Rathore, vice-president of the Sarvodaya Drivers' Association, said drivers will take out a protest march against the Delhi government which, he alleged, is not intervening to resolve the issue.
"The protest march will be taken out from Majnu-ka-Tila to the CM's residence in North Delhi's Civil Lines area. There is anger among drivers that government is not intervening in raising their issues with Ola and Uber," Rathore said.
He said the association has called for the one-day strike in favour of the demands and if companies and government do not pay heed, they will go on an indefinite strike.
According to the association, the app-based cab companies made "tall promises" to drivers– like they would earn as much as Rs 1.5 lakh every month.