New
Delhi: As the Supreme Court’s ban on plying of diesel and petrol driven taxis
in Delhi takes effect, three taxi owners warning this might lead to suicides in
frustration.
Taxi
operators termed the top court’s decision tyrannical, saying if the decision
was not changed then it will lead many of them to commit suicide. Over 27,000
taxis run on diesel alone in Delhi. The operators told Indo-Asian News Service
that they had decided to launch a protest after mutual consultations. They
claimed that almost half the taxis were run on diesel in the national capital.
S.
Kumar, owner of Kumar Taxi Services in central Delhi, said: “I have cancelled
17 bookings since morning as most of my taxis are run on diesel. I have only
five taxis run by CNG. We do not understand why the court and Government come
up with such decisions?” He said the top court decision of Saturday will lead
many taxi operators to commit suicide as they won’t be able to pay their car
installments now. “How do we pay our monthly installments to banks for the
loans taken to buy taxis? Does not the government realize that diesel cars
can't be converted into CNG,” he asked.
According
to the Delhi transport department, about 60,000 taxis are registered in the
city. Of them, 27,000 run on diesel.
Some taxi operators believe the court
ruling will mainly affect cab aggregators Ola and Uber. On Sunday, with taxis
plying on petrol and diesel staying off the roads, commuters switched over to
the limited number of CNG-driven yellow-top taxis and auto-rickshaws. The
problem is expected to peak on Monday.
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