Monday, 2 May 2016

Diesel, Petrol Cabs Go Off Roads In Delhi

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.


No comments:

Post a Comment