Ola, Uber Ban to Make Middle Class Suffer
NEW DELHI: Delhi’s middle class will be very unhappy if the AAP government has its way. With the Delhi Government’s direction to the traffic police to impound the alleged ‘unlicenced’ aggregators like Ola and Uber, transportation woes for commuters are set to increase.
Arvind Kejriwal-led government on Saturday filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court saying, “Delhi Traffic Police is also being requested to stop the illegal operations by these app-based operators.”
This ambiguous direction, if implemented while odd-even scheme is on, is likely to lead to utter chaos on streets as commuters would be stranded. A usually vocal government has only made this submission before the court but not said anything publicly.
The government blamed app-based unlicenced taxi service operators for abusing the process of law to delay seeking the licences.
The Kejriwal government has blamed app-based ‘unlicensed’ taxi service operators for abusing the process of law to delay seeking the licenses, as the same would make them liable to follow the rules and regulations formulated as per the City Taxi Scheme, 2015. They are allegedly not even willing to abide by the same.
In an affidavit filed by Deputy Commissioner of Transport department, Suresh Chand Meena, before the Delhi High Court, it was said that the alleged unlicensed aggregators—Uber and Ola—are operating illegally as their applications for license were rejected by the Transport department in June 2015. The affidavit was filed in pursuance to the petition filed in the Delhi High Court, blaming Ola and Uber for rampantly flouting the government’s notification fixing the fares of economy taxis at Rs 12.5 per km and were actually charging Rs 40 to Rs 50 per km on the pretext of surge pricing.
“The department is in process of preparing rules to regulate/monitor the app based aggregators and to prevent uneconomical competitions among the license/permit holders. That not only the app based companies are unlicensed, but they are also not allowed to charge more than prescribed rates of fare in the shape of surge price or peak time charge and punitive actions are being taken against violators by the Enforcement teams of the department and the Delhi Traffic Police is also being requested to stop the illegal operations by these App based operators,” the affidavit reads. Criticising the surge pricing by the private cab operators, AAP government said: “The app-based companies are unlicensed, but they are also not allowed to charge more than prescribed rates of fare in the shape of surge price and punitive actions are being taken against violators by the enforcement teams of the department and the Delhi Traffic Police is also being requested to stop the illegal operations by these app-based operators.”
The Delhi government has also informed the court, which is scheduled to hear the plea on Monday, against it for not putting a cab on the taxi aggregators for their surge pricing. The affidavit further said: “Transport department has issued a helpline number aimed at bringing overcharging drivers to book, warning of legal consequences, including cancellation of permits and impounding of vehicles.” The government has issued 119 challans against the operators running with Uber, Ola.