Auto, taxi driver unions call off strike in Delhi, give Centre a 25-day ultimatum

Unions representing autorickshaws and taxis called off their strike against fuel price hike on Tuesday, however, they have warned that if the demands of auto/taxi drivers are not met within the next 25 days, they will cut Delhi`s food supply chain.

"We held the one-day symbolic protest to warn the central government that if no action is taken in the next 25 days, then after 25 days we will shut the total food chain of Delhi including tempos, and trucks. Whatever milk, vegetables or any essential items come in Delhi will not come and the central government will be responsible for it," said President of Rajdhani Parivahan Panchayat, Indrajeet Singh while speaking to reporters here today.

"We had a symbolic protest yesterday. We wanted to give a message to the Central government on fuel price hikes. After the COVID pandemic, after so long our work has started to begin. During the election, they did not raise the price of fuel, but now suddenly the prices are increasing," said Singh.

He further said, "We have spoken to three MPs and they said they can`t help us. We tweeted to Hardeep Singh Puri and tried calling him, but received no response."

"Our second issue was Ola and Uber. For the last 5 years, we are continuously trying and have had multiple meetings with Nitin Gadkari, who has received our letter and did nothing. There are no restrictions on Ola/Uber in Delhi NCR or anywhere. Because of that people who used to work in good sectors or have done MBA, quit their jobs and joined Uber/Ola as they said they will pay them 1 lakh per month," said Singh.

"First 6 months they fulfilled it, but later they stopped. Our request from the Central government is to subsidise the fuel prices. We want registration cards from the government to avail fuel at subsidised prices," said the President of Rajdhani Parivahan Panchayat.

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When asked about passengers facing problems in booking cabs and autos, Singh said, "All the Auto unions have said that they have called off the protest. But there are people who are still not aware of this development therefore they are continuing with the strike. The reason for calling off the protest is that passengers don`t face problems and the situation will be back to normal very soon. But if the central government won`t listen to us then in the next 20-25 days, we will stop the supply of essential items."

Amid a steep rise in fuel prices, members of auto, taxi and cab drivers` associations went on a one-day strike against the CNG price hike, on Monday and demanded the government to hold a meeting with them in the next two hours failing which they would launch an indefinite strike. However, Unions representing autorickshaws and yellow-black taxis have decided to resume work from Tuesday.