 "Traffic jam at Delhi Gurgaon Expressway due to protest by diesel vehicle owners against SC's ban on them. Photo: ANI")
Monday was a day of misery for millions of commuters on Delhi roads as a large section of taxi drivers held protests against the Supreme Court order to ban cabs operating on diesel and petrol.
On the first working day after a fortnight of ‘odd-even’ restrictions, which kept about a million private cars off roads, most Delhiites were stuck in traffic jams as protesting taxi drivers blocked several important roads and highways, including NH-8 that connects Delhi and Gurgaon.
Read more from our special coverage on "DIESEL TAXIS, SUPREME COURT, CNG, ODD-EVEN SCHEME"
The cabbies were protesting against impounding of more than a 100 diesel-run cabs on April 1 when the ban came into effect, making CNG mandatory. Things were so bad that Union road & transport minister Nitin Gadkari had to announce that the Centre would request the Supreme Court to reconsider its ban. “The ban has created an unprecedented situation of thousands of taxis getting off road and people facing severe hardships,” Gadkari told reporters.
Adding to the commuting mayhem, app-based taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola showed “no cab available” sign through the day in various parts of National Capital Region (NCR) as the Delhi government instructed them to keep “surge-pricing” off. These companies had complied with the state government diktat of plying without the “surge price” (an algorithm that syncs demand and supply at a particular time, fluctuating price accordingly) during the odd-even fortnight that ended on April 30.
Uber has reintroduced surge pricing. Its executives pointed out that compliance with the government norms can come only after a policy for cab aggregator is framed. The American firm did not issue any official statement on the matter. Bengaluru-based Ola, meanwhile, sent out messages on Twitter saying it had not switched on surge pricing. Ola remained quiet on policy.
Delhi transport minister Gopal Rai also took to his Twitter handle to convey the determination of the state government that violators would not be spared, referring to surge pricing by cab aggregators.To make things worse, temperature in the capital soared to 46 degree Celsius, while a holiday in the hills looked remote with forest fire spreading in the states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
Protesters blocking the Delhi roads included the diesel cab drivers who have All India Tourist Permit (AITP). Such cabbies are exempted from the ban provided they operate outside NCR, agency reports said. Many such cabs were impounded on Sunday as they were found plying within the city limits. Drivers called it “harassment by enforcement agencies”. Apart from the Delhi-Gurgaon stretch, the blockade affected traffic in busy areas like Sarai Kale Khan, Ashram, Lajpat Nagar and Moolchand.
Major IT companies such as HCL Technologies said they had already switched to an all-CNG fleet after the court order. “We have not faced any problems as we are running have an all-CNG fleet,” an HCL official said.
Some companies, however, faced problems. “We have asked our employees to use radio taxis and other such services wherever possible for the time being. We are working with our vendors and we hope things would be back to normal in the next 30-60 days,” said Captain Rajesh Sharma, vice-president, Office Services Asia Pacific, Sapient Consulting.
While shortage of CNG filling stations is among the complaints of the drivers, Indraprastha Gas, the sole retailer of CNG to automobiles in the Capital, has said it has set up 72 CNG filling stations this year itself, to meet the rising demand. Another 18 are expected to come up this month. The Supreme Court had directed setting up of 104 CNG fuelling stations in Delhi and NCR.
Taxi drivers, however, said vehicles with all-India permit were exempted from the ban but enforcement agencies indiscriminately impounded vehicles. “We will continue our protest until the authorities forbid police and transport department officials from penalising us as we have an all-India permit which is exempted from the ban. We are only asking for exemption which we have already been given,” said Sanjay Samrat, president of Delhi Taxi Tourist Transporters Association.
Around 60,000 taxis are registered in the NCR, out of which 27,000 run on diesel, according to official estimates. In the past two months, an estimated 2,000 diesel taxis had converted into CNG.
And if the latest observation of the National Green Tribunal is any indication, the capital will come under further scrutiny in relation to the vehicles plying on the city's roads. NGT pulled up the Delhi government for its failure to implement its order banning vehicles more than 15 years old from plying on the roads. "Why your police doesn't do anything with regard to 15- year-old vehicles? Why don't you challan them? Why has police not taken any action in furtherance to orders passed by the tribunal?" a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar asked Delhi government.
(With inputs from Karan Choudhury in New Delhi)
