Delhi: Autorickshaw, taxi strike on Tuesday

Commuters may face difficulty on Tuesday as a number of auto rickshaw and taxi operators' unions will go on a strike demanding hike in fares, not heeding to an assurance by the Delhi government on Monday that a decision on the issue will be taken within 15 days.

The auto unions have also been protesting government's directive to install global positioning systems in their vehicles due to "high cost" of the equipment.

In view of the strike, Delhi government asked Delhi Transport Corporation to deploy as many buses as possible on the road on Tuesday.

Representatives of various auto-rickshaw unions on Monday held a meeting with Delhi Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami, following which a number of unions decided not to participate in the strike while some others refused to reconsider the decision.

"I have told the unions that government will take a decision on the issue of fare within 15 days. However, I told them that there can be no review of decision on installation of GPS on auto-rickshaw," Goswami said.

On installation of GPS, the auto unions told the minister that they will not be able to install the GPS device selected by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Ltd which would cost Rs 13,500 each.