Ola, Uber strike hits Mumbai commuters

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, March 19

An ‘indefinite’ strike by drivers of cab aggregators Uber and Ola saw scores of commuters rush for ordinary black and yellow taxis in order to get to work on Monday.

According to the Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena (MNVS), a union of taxi drivers affiliated to Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, most of the 80,000 cabbies who ply for the two aggregators were off the road. “The strike is total in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and other cities of Maharashtra,” MNVS president Sanjay Naik said.

The strike was violent in some places with MNS activists breaking the windshields of vehicles found plying on the roads. MNS leader Nitin Nandgaonkar was seen damaging a car with a lathi in a video going viral on social media.

Though the MNVS said cabbies of the two aggregators across the country were on strike, reports said the impact was limited to Mumbai and other major cities in Maharashtra.

Naik accused the two aggregator companies of promising returns of as much as Rs1.25 lakh per month to cabbies. “Those who bought air-conditioned cars for Rs5 to 7 lakh are barely making Rs40,000 per month and have to pay back the loans on their cars,” Naik said.

The MNVS also accused Ola and Uber of under-cutting the cabbies by deploying vehicles owned by the two companies.

The Mumbai Taximen’s Union, the mainstream union of the regular taxi drivers, is also backing the strike. AL Quadros, General Secretary, MTU, said Ola and Uber cabs were illegally plying using tourist taxi permits.