Delhi autorickshaw strike called off in the afternoon

Commuters in various parts of the national Capital had to face problems finding an autorickshaw on the roads until afternoon as a section of drivers went on strike in favour of their demands.

However, representatives of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh, which had called the one-day strike against alleged highhandedness of traffic police, agreed to run vehicles around 1 PM after an assurance from senior police officials. In the morning, commuters in various parts of the national capital faced difficulty in finding autorickshaws.

""I got late for office as I did not get any auto. Hiring an auto became difficult task for me," Subhash Pandey, a commuter.

"We decided to call off our one-day strike midway after senior traffic police officials assured us that traffic cops would not prevent drivers from taking passengers from Railway stations and Metro stations. They have also assured that traffic cops will not challan drivers by posing as passengers," Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh general secretary Rajendra Soni said.

Soni said that they were also promised by Delhi Traffic Police that a driver, who is going home in the evening and has put up a board of "No service" in front of his vehicle, would also not be challaned. "After getting assurance, we announced to call off strike around 12.30 PM today and asked auto drivers to run their vehicles," he added.

Earlier in the day, Several auto-rickshaw drivers associated with Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh held a protest march from Bal Bhawan to Ram Charan Agarwal Chowk.