Hyderabad: Cab driver associations in the city are demanding that driver welfare should be considered along with customer safety and they should have the basic details of the customer hiring their vehicles. Not all customers are happy about this as they say it is not always safe to give the cabbie personal details and information.
The cab-driver associations’ ire was roused by the Delhi government policy draft. ‘Licencing and regulation of app-based aggregators rules 2017’ regarding the city taxi scheme, where cab drivers can be penalised by as much as Rs 25,000 in case of ride cancellation. Though customers in the city welcome such rules, drivers associations were against such a high penalty.
“All the time only the commuters are being given importance and drivers’ welfare is being neglected. There is already a lot of pressure from the companies on the driver. There is no protection from unruly passengers either,” a drivers’ representatives said.
Mr Shaik Salauddin, state president of the Telangana Four-Wheelers Drivers’ Association, said, “There were instances where customers drank liquor in the cab and harassed drivers for money, which led to altercations. Such fights can end up anywhere. There were also instances where customers drove off with the cab after beating up the driver and throwing him out of the cab.”
He said the problem was more when a cab was shared.
“Sometimes, drunk create problems for women passengers. We are helpless. We can’t complain to the police as we do not have enough information about the customer. Even the company won’t give us details saying they are confidential. In such instances it would be better if an identity card is there officially with the driver, so that we can ensure safety,” Mr Salauddin said.
The proposal did not go down well with commuters, Ms Leena Alluri, who regularly uses cabs to commute to her office, said, “If we put a blanket cover on all the customers and ask them to upload some sort of identity card, then some women might be in trouble. Comparatively, there are more incidents about cab drivers harassing customers than vice versa. If uploading personal details become mandatory, then it is not such a difficult task for us choose another means of transport instead of opting to use these cabs specially when safety is being compromised.”
