The Association, which claims to represent around 125,000 app-based taxis in the the Delhi-NCR, demands that fares be increased from existing Rs 6 per km to around Rs 20 per km.
Commuters in Delhi-NCR may face hardship in hiring taxis tomorrow as the drivers of two app-based cab aggregators Ola and Uber have threatened to go off roads for a day against "low fares".
This is the second round of strike called by the drivers.
They had gone on strike in February too, which had lasted 13 days, causing inconvenience to commuters in Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad.
The strike might hit private transport service in Delhi and other neighbouring cities as some groups of tourist taxi providers, autorickshaw union, as per agitating Sarvodaya Drivers' Association, have extended their support to it.
The Association, which claims to represent around 125,000 app-based taxis in the the Delhi-NCR, demands that fares be increased from existing Rs 6 per km to around Rs 20 per km.
It also demands abolition of 25 per cent commission the drivers are charged by companies.
Ravi Rathore, vice-president of the Sarvodaya Drivers' Association, said drivers will take out a protest march against the Delhi government which, he alleged, is not intervening to resolve the issue.
"The protest march will be taken out from Majnu-ka-Tila to the CM's residence in North Delhi's Civil Lines area. There is anger among drivers that government is not intervening in raising their issues with Ola and Uber," Rathore said.
He said the association has called for the one-day strike in favour of the demands and if companies and government do not pay heed, they will go on an indefinite strike.
According to the association, app-based cab companies made "tall promises" to drivers - like they would earn as much as Rs 150,000 every month.
"But the situation is different. They are making us run taxis at Rs 6 per km while they charge 25 per cent from us," Rathore also said.
Contrary to the association's claim that most autorickshaw and tourists associations have decided to lend their support to the strike, Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh and Delhi Pradesh Taxi Union (yellow-black taxis) said they will not participate in it.
"We will not support the strike in Delhi," Rajendra Soni, general secretary of both the associations, said.
During the February strike, the Delhi-NCR commuters faced hardship as the companies had resorted to surge pricing during morning and evening peak hours.
HC stops drivers' unions from disrupting Ola, Uber services
Earlier in the day, the Delhi high court restrained two taxi drivers' unions from disrupting services of cabs run by Ola and Uber in the national capital region.
Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw passed a decree "permanently injuncting" the two unions and anyone associated with them from blocking cabs of Ola and Uber.
The court also stopped the unions and their members or associates from removing or confiscating the mobile devices installed in the app-based cabs.
It also restrained them from staging any dharna or causing any commotion or violence within 500 metres of the offices of Ola and Uber.
The court passed the order after the two app-based cab companies said that efforts to settle the dispute with the two unions -- the Sarvodaya Driver Association of Delhi (SDAD) and the Rajdhani Tourist Drivers' Union -- by mediation have failed.
Uber, represented by senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, also claimed that a pamphlet was being circulated by the taxi unions calling for a strike on Tuesday.
The lawyer appearing for SDAD contended that the pamphlet was not being circulated by its members or associates as there are several other taxi unions operating in the national capital.
The court, earlier, had sent the companies and the unions to mediation to resolve the matter.
The court had also asked Delhi Police to ensure safety of the drivers working for the two companies.
It had also said that their vehicles should not be stopped or blocked from plying and should not be damaged.
The pleas were moved after hundreds of drivers of Uber and Ola went on an indefinite strike from February 10 in Delhi-NCR to protest against "low fares" and "lack" of basic amenities from the app-based cab companies.
Photograph: PTI Photo
