Unavailable auto services to add to Monday chaos

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Commuters in the city may face difficulty as a large number of autorickshaw unions have planned a fullfledged protest on March 20 demanding a ban on ebike-taxis here.

According to sources from an auto drivers' union, as many as 2.1 lakh autorickshaws are expected to be out of service during the protest. Many autorickshaw drivers have already started plying around the city with black flags tied to their vehicles to express their support for the protest.

The friction between autorickshaw drivers and Rapido has been long standing with the former consistently holding that bike-taxis are eating away into their income and affecting their livelihood. The drivers are also seeking a ban on the use of personal two-wheelers (whiteboard number plates) as bike-taxis.

D Rudramurthy of the Autorickshaw Drivers’ Union said they had raised objections when the Electric Bike Taxi Scheme was introduced in 2021. “Auto drivers have to follow so many rules to make passengers’ journey safe and comfortable while the bike-taxis, which are not very safe, have none of it," he said.

The unions have said that they will lay siege to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's residence if their demands go unheard. Raghu Narayana Gowda, state president of the Peace Auto Union said that the unions had offered a deadline to the authorities to fulfill their demands.

"The transport department has acknowledged that bike-taxis are operating illegally but has not done anything about it. The unions also alleged that the HC had restrained the government from taking any coercive action against bike-taxi firms for reasons “unknown”. "We had protested regarding the issue earlier and are staging a much more serious protest this time. Autos will not be allowed to operate on March 20," Gowda said.