Whose strike was it anyway?

Whose strike was it anyway? This question was upmost on the minds of several rickshaw drivers dna spoke to because the strike, called against aggregator cab firms like Uber and Ola, actually ended up causing a loss of several crores to the rickshaw trade. The two aggregator firms were seen on the roads in almost all localities of Mumbai, and from the looks of it, did brisk business. Both firms sent messages to thousands of their customer base that there would be no surge pricing during certain times of the day, a sure sign that the business was good thanks to the rickshaws staying off the road.

The money lost by the rickshaw trade could be as high as Rs5.75 crore for Wednesday, said Thampi Kurien of Mumbai Rickshawmens' Union, one of the unions that opposed the strike call. "Back of the envelope calculations give us this figure of Rs5.75 crore. It could be even higher. Who benefited from it? Uber and Ola. Who lost? The rickshaw drivers who could not hit the roads because of the fear of vandalism to their rickshaws? Can the union that called the strike explain what good came out of it for rickshaw drivers? We will be asking the chief minister to give compensation to all the rickshaw drivers who wanted to ply their vehicles but could not," said Kurien.

Wednesday's strike was the third mass agitation against aggregator cabs, the first being a dharna on January 19 and the second one a general strike on February 15. Tuesday's strike was called by the Mumbai Autorickshawmen's Union despite the Bombay High Court hearing a petition on the issue of aggregator cabs.

On August 24, the high court had asked the state government to state its policy on how Uber and Ola were operating on tourist permits. The state was supposed to file an affidavit and the next hearing has been slotted for September 2. Moreover, the Union government had set up a committee on August 11 to look into the policies that govern taxis, rickshaws and aggregator cabs. The committee is to give its report by October 31.

When asked whether Tuesday's strike reflected badly on the transport department, transport commissioner Praveen Gedam said it didn't. "Not at all. Drafting and passing of new law is an elaborate process. Not to be done in a hurry. The final decision shall be taken after consulting all stakeholder," said Gedam.

Money rickshaw trade lost

* Total rickshaws in Mumbai: 1,05,000
* The numbers ply during the day: 75,000
* The numbers off the roads due to breakdowns and RTO formalities: 30,000
* The numbers that ply during night (from the 75,000): Around 40,000
* The numbers that don't ply during night due to being single-driver rickshaws: 35,000
* Total rickshaws playing through a 24-hour period: 1,15,000
* Income from a single 12-hour shift: Rs500
* Total income for all rickshaws plying: Rs5.75 crore (1,15,000 x Rs500)
(Source: Calculations are approximations provided by Thampi Kurien, Mumbai Rickshawmen's Union)

The other side

Shashank Rao of Mumbai Autorickshawmen's Union which called the strike said: "Our strike was not only against Ola and Uber as you are making it out to be. It was against illegal buses, illegal call centre cars and cartel of private vehicles pooling passengers which are our main adversaries. These are taking away most of our business. So, we want a dedicated squad to take them on. Four commissioners have come and gone in the past one year and we have not seen our demands being met which include weeding out corruption from RTOs and setting up CCTV cameras there. But now the transport commissioner (Praveen Gedam) has heard us out and has agreed in-principle to forming such a squad. We believe the strike was a success."