Uber rape case: 700 cab drivers protest against ban
15 Dec 2014 4:21 AM IST
They protested against the ‘injustice’ they had to suffer on account of one driver, who allegedly raped a woman on December 5, and people from RTO and other authorities who allegedly helped Yadav in procuring forged documents.
The protest was held at Jantar Mantar and by the afternoon as many as 700 Uber cab drivers had gathered there. Some of them even claimed that Shiv Kumar Yadav was planted by some other cab company, who knew about Yadav’s past, to fight a fast expanding company like Uber.
Most of the drivers bought the cars through loans from banks and private financiers, with monthly installments ranging between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per month.
“Now, without our job, how can we pay that? The banks won’t buy the ban on Uber as a reasonable excuse,” said AS Pandey, an Uber driver.
“We have all submitted copies of genuine documents like our car’s registration certificate, All India Tourist permit, drivers’ license, PSV badge, police clearance certificate, fitness certificate, pollution certificate, etc to the company on time. If the company failed to get them verified with regard to one driver, it’s not our fault at all,” said Pramod Singh Bisht, a cab driver working with Uber since it started operating in Delhi in 2013.
“The forged document was accepted by the transport departments because officials there are working in connivance with touts. Secondly, police said that the certificate was produced by the help of a photocopy machine by cleverly placing one document over the other. Also, the documents photocopied was apparently issued from the notepad of a senior official. How is that possible without police connivance,” said Pawan Kumar, another Uber driver.
However, they all said that the American cab firm had a much better pay scheme than the domestic competitors. They had an assured pay of Rs 12,000 per month. Beyond that limit, they also got the fare amount after deduction of a 20 percent commission, informed AS Pandey.
The protest was held at Jantar Mantar and by the afternoon as many as 700 Uber cab drivers had gathered there. Some of them even claimed that Shiv Kumar Yadav was planted by some other cab company, who knew about Yadav’s past, to fight a fast expanding company like Uber.
Most of the drivers bought the cars through loans from banks and private financiers, with monthly installments ranging between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per month.
“Now, without our job, how can we pay that? The banks won’t buy the ban on Uber as a reasonable excuse,” said AS Pandey, an Uber driver.
“We have all submitted copies of genuine documents like our car’s registration certificate, All India Tourist permit, drivers’ license, PSV badge, police clearance certificate, fitness certificate, pollution certificate, etc to the company on time. If the company failed to get them verified with regard to one driver, it’s not our fault at all,” said Pramod Singh Bisht, a cab driver working with Uber since it started operating in Delhi in 2013.
“The forged document was accepted by the transport departments because officials there are working in connivance with touts. Secondly, police said that the certificate was produced by the help of a photocopy machine by cleverly placing one document over the other. Also, the documents photocopied was apparently issued from the notepad of a senior official. How is that possible without police connivance,” said Pawan Kumar, another Uber driver.
However, they all said that the American cab firm had a much better pay scheme than the domestic competitors. They had an assured pay of Rs 12,000 per month. Beyond that limit, they also got the fare amount after deduction of a 20 percent commission, informed AS Pandey.
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