Protesters target working cabbies, commuters panic

Nandini Yadav, a journalist living in Noida Sector-42, was in for one unpleasant surprise after another on Friday. First, she had to wait for over an hour for an app-based cab. Finally, when the trip started, to her horror, Yadav realised that two cabs were following her.

The men in the two cabs then pelted stones at her vehicle. Panicked, Yadav urged the driver to speed up. He immediately changed the route and the two had a fortunate escape.

This was the first day of the strike called by drivers attached with private taxi aggregators Ola and Uber. Since then, over a period of four days, a number of random incidents of violence and hooliganism by protesting drivers have been reported both on social media as well as with the cabs’ customer care units.

“The moment I boarded the cab, I realised that the two cabs parked behind had been waiting for us. They started following us and threw stones at our vehicle. I got so scared that I called my family on the way. I told my driver to hurry. Somehow, we escaped. The two were among the protesting drivers, who were shouting that no cabs can ply,” Yadav said. She had taken the cab to reach her office in Noida, Sector-16A. She hasn’t used the app since the incident. Moreover, she isn’t the only one to report such incidents.

That apart, many drivers have complained to the company authorities that they were being threatened and their vehicles were being damaged for their refusal to participate in the strike.

Requesting anonymity, a cab owner said that two of his drivers were beaten up and the windows of a car were damaged by a group of protesters.