After a week of protests against the Meru cab service, it is becoming clearer that the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) wants more
MUMBAI: After a week of protests against the Meru cab service, it is becoming clearer that the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) wants more than just the compensation for the widow of the driver who died in an accident last week.
The MNS protests in the aftermath of the accident were aimed at achieving two ends. First, it wants to set up its workers’ union in Meru; and second, it wants to run its own cab service, if possible.
The MNS’s transport union — Maharashtra Navnirman Vahtuk Sena (MNVS) — has registered 450 drivers attached to Meru as its members and has demanded the drivers be made permanent. Observers believe that once the drivers are made permanent, MNVS will automatically become the sole union in the company.
MNVS president Arafat Sheikh said: “The drivers have voluntarily registered with us. We want permanent employment and weekly offs for them.”
The party is likely to hold a meeting with Meru’s managing director Neeraj Gupta soon and put the demands before him.
If the negotiations fail, MNVS has a separate plan to execute. On Friday, it gave a glimpse of what may follow. Some Meru drivers who are now with MNVS assaulted their 10 colleagues for plying the cabs despite a strike of sorts in Dharavi and Matunga.
“Till now, the fight with Meru was held in a democratic way. If Gupta refuses our demands, we will turn the fight into undemocratic ways. I need not explain what those ways would be,” Sheikh warned.
He hinted that if Meru were to shut down its business due to MNVS attacks, the party will start its own cab service. “We will not allow the drivers to remain unemployed. We will take care of them,” he said.
A heavyweight politician from Uttar Pradesh is believed to have helped V-Link Taxis Private Limited, which runs the Meru service, to revive the expired national permits from New Delhi. A Meru driver, Nana Sonawane, revealed, “Maharashtra government has not issued any taxi permit since 1996. Hundreds of permits had expired because they were not transferred. V-Link legally got those permits renewed by paying a heavy penalty. They even paid Rs1 lakh to the drivers who owned the permits.”
DNA sent text message to Gupta for confirmation of Meru’s political links but he did not respond.
Meanwhile, the MNVS has planned to file a case against V-Link in the labour court for allegedly cheating its 64 drivers. “The company had appointed the drivers on salary basis on June 2007. But five months later, they changed their service rules and appointed them as commission agents. They deducted provident fund but never gave the PF account number. Thus, they have flouted the Maharashtra Employees Act,” alleged advocate GH Khan, on behalf of the MNVS.
However, a Meru spokesperson said, “We have always complied with all statutory provisions related to employees and have always deposited PF and ESI for our employees as per legal requirements.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}