The Karnataka Transport Department has told cab aggregator Ola to stop services of the recently unveiled Ola Bike service effective immediately, the Economic Times reports.

Earlier, Ola, TaxiForSure and Uber Owners and Drivers Association had sent a petition to the department to take action against Rapido. Despite the online bike taxi service operating in the city for a long time, it was able not to draw authorities’ attention owing to its low user base. However, after sending the petition, Ola decided to launch the services and test the sector, reports Trak.in.

The additional commissioner of transport and secretary of the state transport authority, Narendra Holkar, said, “We have issued a notice to Ola to immediately stop bike-taxi services from their platform and explain why the services were introduced without bringing it to our notice”. He adds that officials have been directed to seize the bike taxis and penalise them.

“We are still working on a policy and have sought the opinion of stakeholders on whether bike-taxi services should be allowed," ET quotes Transport commissioner VP Ikkeri as saying. He adds that as there is no policy yet, and the department would take action against those continuing to offer bike taxi services.