Chennai: Braving heavy showers, around 200 Ola cab drivers staged a silent protest on Tuesday against several restrictions at the company’s office in Ekkaduthangal. Alleging that the company had not kept its promises, driver M. Raja said, “No cab operator other than Ola forces 27 per cent of tax on drivers in the form of service tax and compulsory TDS.
It is very difficult to maintain the vehicle and pay the dues with the meager amount we earn. Of the Rs 10 that is charged to the customer per kilometer, our share isRs '6, while the company takes Rs 4,” says Raja who has been working with the application based cabs for a year now.
Drivers say that they mostly rely on a ‘minimum business guarantee’ in which some amount is given as incentive after completing the target. “A minimum business guarantee has a deposit of Rs 5,000 each day. The earnings we made are deducted from the deposit amount and the resultant amount is given to us after cutting taxes. That is the only thing which is keeping us going,” explains another driver.
Every driver has to complete 18 trips in a day, which includes five duties in peak hours from 4 pm to 11 pm. Says a Theni native, B. Mahesh, “I work for a full day at a stretch, without sleeping a wink. But at the end of the day, I take back very little after paying taxes. With many commuters opting for Ola money – where we receive money after four days - it is becoming hard to allocate money for fuel.
The irony is that they deduct cash from Ola money, if the targets are not met.”
As the drivers did not give up their protest till the late evening, agitated staff from the Ola office complained at Guindy police station. Deccan Chronicle’s efforts to reach the company’s head office at Bengaluru failed.
