Bengaluru: The proposal to remove child lock in commercial vehicles to ensure safety of women passengers has not gone down well with the cab drivers and operators in the city.
The cab associations in Bengaluru have decided to file a PIL against the new rule being imposed by regional transport office (RTO).
Tanveer Pasha, President of Ola, Taxi4sure and Uber drivers and owners association told Deccan Chronicle, "This is unexpected and RTO officials are behind this ban. It's the game plan of some government officials because earlier they asked us to install panic button and now they are saying to remove child lock. It's all because they have to set up a receiver point, which they are not ready to do so.”
The rule to remove child lock came into force after Bangalore Society of Obstetrics & Gynaecology filed a PIL in this regard. They had argued that crimes against women passengers travelling in taxis have increased and there was a need to remove child-lock system so that passengers are not at the mercy of the driver. They claim there have been incidents of passengers being trapped due to child lock. Following this the Karnataka Motor Vehicle Act was amended to disallow permits to cabs with child locks. The transport department had also clarified that the rule would apply to new as well as existing taxis. RTO had then set a January 16 deadline for removal of such locks.
Pasha pointed out that for many years every single car manufactured in India has a child lock in the rear doors. This ensures that the doors can be opened only from outside. "Automobile companies introduced child-lock system to ensure the safety of children sitting in rear seats. However, it’s often misused by some cab drivers and considered a threat, particularly to women passengers travelling in the night. But at the same time it is also very helpful to protect children. If any untoward incident happened in future with children, they will again blame cab drivers. So we have decided to file a PIL,” Pasha added.
