Mumbai Cab Strike: 40 Per Cent Cabs Stay Off Roads, Protestors Booked By Police As City Grapples With Fare Surge

Protesting cab drivers were booked by the Mumbai Police as it denied permission to the demonstrators who had planned to carry out the protest from Bharatmata in Currey Road to Vidhan Bhavan, reports Mumbai Live.

About 40 per cent of the vehicles were reportedly off the roads on Monday (19 November), which sent fares surging to even twice the normal amount.

The protestors, mostly drivers from cab aggregators Ola and Uber, have now been sent to Azad Maidan to carry out the protest. Cab drivers in Mumbai, have been pressuring the government and their parent companies to give in to their demands. The drivers want to increase base price and per km rate, aligning it with the increasing fuel prices which will result in higher profit margins for them.

The Times of India, on 18 November reported that 70 per cent of Ola and Uber cabs remained off on roads.

Union leader Govind Mohite had warned that the drivers along with their family members would march and submit the memorandum to the state government. "Majority of driver partners have gone offline voluntarily. We are gearing up for the huge morcha on the first day of state legislative session on Monday”, he said, as quoted byTOI.

It will be the second time that cab drivers in Mumbai have taken up to strike. Between, 22 October and 2 November, the strike caused significant inconvenience to daily office commuters who use cab services as well as airport services, until intervention from state transport minister Diwakar Raote.

However, this time they want Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to intervene and find a solution to the drivers' grievances, said Maharashtra Rajya Rashtriya Kamgar Sangh leader Sachin Ahir while speaking about drivers problems. "Thousands of families have been badly hit as most drivers are leading a hand-to-mouth existence and many are unable repay the loan EMIs”, he said.