Transport minister Diwakar Raote on Friday announced in the Assembly that he would introduce guidelines for application-based taxi services such as Ola and Uber to run in the Mumbai Metropolitan Regio
Transport minister Diwakar Raote on Friday announced in the Assembly that he would introduce guidelines for application-based taxi services such as Ola and Uber to run in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Furthermore, he said that the state government would exert control on such taxis and would not allow them to run without following the rules and regulations. The minister also said the issue of illegal rickshaw parking in the city would be solved.
“Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis will soon announce guidelines for Ola and Uber in the Assembly. We have already submitted our proposal to the chief minister. This is an effort to regulate app-based taxis,” Mr Raote told the Assembly.
The announcement from the minister is significant, as general taxis and rickshaws are going on a strike on July 26 against the app-based taxis, which they claim are taking away their customers. This would be the second strike by the black-and-yellow taxi drivers against app-based taxi services.
The minister also said that the government had started the process of computerisation of regional transport offices to curb issuance of bogus licences. The computerisation would also bring transparency in the process, he said.
Congress MLA Nitesh Rane was asked in the Assembly about touts in the Thane transport office issuing bogus licences. The minister said that two were booked in connection to the case. “An inquiry has been conducted under a committee appointed by the transport commissioner’s office. Irregularity was found in 220 licences and the government has started a process to cancel them,” Mr Raote said.
The minister also assured the House that a meeting would be held with civic body officials and people’s representatives to resolve the issue of parking of autorickshaws in the city.
