CHENNAI: Representatives of radio taxi service operators have agreed to maintain an online database of drivers they have employed and post the list of defaulters on the same platform to prevent them from being engaged by others and avert crimes committed against passengers.
Though this was the sixth such meeting held by the City Police since September this year, the timing of the meeting comes in the wake of the recent rape of a passenger by a driver of Uber taxi in Delhi. Call taxi drivers associations too has acceded to the idea and informed the cops that they already have such a mechanism in place and would further tweak the website so that it is accessible to every operator in the City and other districts.
It was also disclosed that antecedents of 50 per cent of the total strength of call taxi drivers in the city had been verified through the Police Verification Certificate (PVC). The cops also urged the operators to display the PVC and make it visible to the passengers. Further, operators were advised to furnish the PVC on demand. The drivers were to wear their uniforms and I cards all through their trip.
The operators were also impressed upon the need to install a physical GPS in the vehicle with a ‘panic’ button which could be reached without any hassle by the passenger who is even sitting on the rear seat. The meeting on Wednesday was chaired by Additional Commissioners of Police (Traffic) P Thamaraikannan, (North-L&O) Karuna Sagar and (South- L&O) Abhash Kumar.