Autorickshaw strike gets lukewarm response

The autorickshaw strike called for by union leader Shashank Rao drew a lukewarm response from the drivers on Wednesday. Mr Rao’s contemporaries like Jai Bhagwan Taxi and Rickshaw Sangh’s (JBTRS) Balasaheb Sanap and Swabhiman Sanghatana’s K.K. Tiwari have said that Mr Rao should have reconsidered the decision, as many drivers felt that the state government has assured a tangible plan on the meeting scheduled with transport minister and commissioner on September 1.

Mr Rao, however, maintained the strike was a “90 per cent success”.

Both Mr Sanap and Mr Tiwari had called off their respective strikes declared to be held on August 29 on August 28. “Mr Rao has to realise that there is a feeling among drivers that such strikes should be called as a last resort and that if the government is coming forward with the assurance of a solution, such strikes don’t make sense, especially given the fact that the drivers see a loss of a day’s earning,” said Mr Tiwari.

On the other hand, the newest and currently popular JBTRS hinted that Mr Rao should review the actual strength of the union as frustrated drivers have begun to flock to other unions for a more aggressive fight. “Rao should re-look at the present conditions and then take a call for strike, things are not the same as even a few years before. We have a lot competition and drivers and owners of both taxi and rickshaws have been waiting for justice since a long time,” said Mr Sanap.

There is also a feeling among drivers that both JBTRS and Swabhiman Sanghatana have reached out at the grassroots level. “We see these two unions at our rickshaw stands, they ask us if anyone is bullying us and ask us about our immediate issues. I know the members of these unions by face and have their numbers, this is how they are different from Rao’s union,” said an autorickshaw driver on the condition of anonymity.

Autorickshaws that mainly ply in the suburbs saw the effect of the strike only during the morning and phased out during the day as autorickshaws began to trickle in during late morning and afternoon itself in Kurla, Bandra, Kandivli, Bhandup and Thane.