BC Khatua panel scripts rules for Ola, Uber

There is every possibility that one may not find bigger expensive cars operating as cabs when one books an Uber or Ola. The BC Khatua Committee, appointed by the state government, has scrapped the recommendation that 30 per cent of the total fleet of a mobile aggregator should be 1400 CC and above, and that the owner of the vehicle has the right to decide the quality of car. Not just this, there shall now be a common uniform for all mobile aggregator drivers that would be blue shirt, black trouser and tie, which shall be mandatory.

The state government had appointed a four-member committee under former IAS officer Khatua to review taxi and auto-rickshaw fares fixed by the PMA Hakeem committee in 2012. The Khatua Committee report recommends that the vehicles bought for ferrying under Uber and Ola should be maximum of 10 years old.

The committee has suggested fare hikes in autos and black and yellow taxis. The minimum will be Rs 19 for autos and Rs 23 for taxis. Moreover, the per km rate too has been hiked by 50 paise for both these modes of transport. Also, they have kept a cap of Rs 14 per km as starting fare and maximum of Rs 38 per km as cap for the mobile aggregators. This would mean that Uber and Ola cannot bring down fares to as low as Rs 6 per km to lure people and go for surge pricing where fares rise upto 4-5 times.

To protect the environment and curb pollution, the panel has suggested converting all vehicles under mobile aggregators to CNG in next four years. There are more than 70,000 vehicles operating as mobile aggregators. Earlier, there was no age limit for these vehicles plying for mobile aggregators. The age limit of black and yellow taxis will stay at 20 years.

The panel has changed the idea of a driver wearing uniform identifying the company. Instead, they have proposed a single uniform as the committee found that drivers were working for both Uber and Ola at the same time.