Thiruvananthapuram: Auto and taxi drivers will go on an indefinite strike from Wednesday midnight demanding rise in fares. The strike was announced after a meeting held between Transport Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and the joint action council of trade unions on Tuesday failed to reach a consensus. All trade union organisations, including the CITU, AITUC, INTUC, HMS and BMS, will take part in the strike.
The unions had organised a token strike earlier raising the issue. The minister told the meeting that the issue would come up for discussion at the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The joint council pointed out that they had not been provided with a copy of Justice M. Ramachandran committee report on the revision of auto and taxi fares. They opposed the government unilaterally deciding on the fare hike without discussing the report with the trade unions.
The committee had recommended increasing the minimum charge for autorickshaws from the present '15 to '20 applicable for 1.5 km. The committee also wanted the per kilometre charge of autoricshaws after 1.5 km to be '11 instead of the present '10. The committee suggested increasing the minimum charge of taxis from '100 to '200.
The rate per kilometre for taxis should be hiked to '10 from '9. For AC taxis, the minimum charge recommended is '220. The committee also recommended an increase to '11 from '10 per kilometre.
