The traditional autorickshaw and taxi drivers in Ernakulam district will stay off the roads on December 11.
Kochi: The traditional autorickshaw and taxi drivers in Ernakulam district will stay off the roads on December 11 in protest against the railways granting parking permits to app-based taxi aggregators at major railway stations in the state. So far the permits were given only to traditional taxi drivers and the online cabbies used to pick commuters from only outside railway station premises. There were several instances of arguments and minor scuffle between the two groups over operating from railway stations.
However, the railways signed a pact with Uber and Ola under which they would be provided space inside stations to set up help desks besides that for parking purpose. While Uber has set up counters at Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam North, Aluva and Thrissur, Ola will operate out of Ernakulam South railway station.
“All the unions including CITU, INTUC, AITUC, BMS, STU and TUCI are participating in the dawn to desk strike. The corporate entities have threatened the very existence of traditional auto and taxi drivers. This even as the former have coughed up user fee to the railways,” said M B Srumanthadan, Convenor, Ernakulam district Auto-Taxi Co-ordination Committee.
He charged that the prepaid counters at the railway stations would now become underutilized with the online taxis doling out much cheaper price which the normal operators can’t afford.
