KOZHIKODE: The auto-taxi strike called by the District Motor Vehicles Coordination Committee on Tuesday has several parents in Kozhikode demand that the government include vehicle services of schoolchildren among emergency services. As many as 850 autorickshaws are plying in the district, regularly taking small kids to school and back. Nearly 8,000 taxis in the corporation limits, including cars and autorickshaws, stopped their service, in protest against the move to install speed governors by September 1 and demanding cancellation of permits to online taxi services such as Mango Cabs, which offer low rates as compared to traditional taxis.
A meeting convened at the collectorate on Monday in the presence of District Collector N. Prasanth also failed to reach a consensus leading to taxi employees taking out a march in front of the collectorate on Tuesday. “We are not against the strike,” said Rajesh Kottulli, a parent. “But why do people make small children suffer? There is nobody else to take the children to school, when the autos that regularly take them suddenly stop service. The vehicles of schoolchildren also should be included in the emergency service.”
Some other parents said that there were remarks in the school diary of their children that they had to send their wards, even if there was an auto strike on Tuesday. Since a majority of schoolchildren still depend on autorickshaws, a strike by auto drivers hits them hard. The strike was complete in the Corporation limit and passengers reaching railway stations, bus stand and hospitals were affected.
