Kolkata: The state Transport department is all set to review the illegal plying of bike taxis in the city.
"We had conducted a meeting with taxi operators in connection with illegal plying of bike taxis and issue of permit today (Monday). We will look into their issues," said state Transport Secretary Narayan Swarup Nigam.
The meeting was conducted after taxi unions threatened to go for a strike to protest against the illegal plying of bike taxis.
"The meeting with the transport officials at Transport Bhawan was fruitful. We discussed our issues with them and they assured us that they will take strict action against the illegally plying bike taxis and look into the irregular issue of permits. We are not going for a taxi strike," said Bimal Kumar Guha, general secretary of Bengal Taxi Association.
He reiterated that there are 22,000 taxis plying across the city, a number which is decreasing each day due to skyrocketing maintenance cost and on top of it, illegal plying of bike taxis are ruining their business.
It might be mentioned that privately owned vehicles cannot operate as commercial vehicles.
Yellow number-plates are must for bike taxis. However, it is seen that bikes having white number plate (issued for private vehicles) are still plying across the city as bike taxis.
"There are no clear rules on plying of bike taxis in the Motor Vehicles Act (1988). States such as Haryana, Telangana and Punjab have implemented the rules in a progressive manner, allowing bike taxis to ply. In March last year, Ola was fined for its bike taxi service in Bangalore and its bikes were impounded. In comparison, Rapido's bikes were temporarily confiscated and released after a penalty was paid," Guha pointed out.