The strike call is a direct response to the transport commissioner's directives asking all taxis older than 15 years to report to the RTO for fitness and pollution tests. The Mumbai Taximen's Union has directed taxis not to report for the re-inspection.

A L Quadros, general secretary of the Mumbai Taximen's Union termed as high-handed and dictatorial the transport commissioner's directives recalling older taxis for reinspections. ``The transport commissioner should immediately withdraw his arbitrary directives,'' Quadros said. If the need arose, the strike could continue.

However, transport commissioner Vinay Mohan Lal has said that the department will continue issuing recall notices to the taxis at the rate of 400 a day. The first batch of taxis is due to report to the RTOs next Monday.

``What we are doing are purely legalsteps, and if someone wants to oppose an anti-pollution drive, I can only say that the people of Mumbai will breathe cleaner air on October 26,'' Lal said.

He warned of stern action if the taxis defy the notices. ``If our notices are not honoured, it will amount to a much more serious offence. Offending vehicles will be rounded up and their permits cancelled,'' he said. Lal pointed out that it was fully within the legal rights of the RTO to ask any vehicle for inspection. Besides, the taxi unions had admitted that pollution was a serious problem, and taxi drivers themselves were suffering various ailments as a result of this.

Acting on the transport commissioner's directives, the three RTOs in the city have begun issuing 400 reinspection notices to all taxis. Quadros alleged that the commissioner had a one-point agenda of targetting only the taxis in Mumbai.

Many of the vehicles now been summoned had undergone the fitness test just days before the notices were served. By this order, the commissioner wasonly trying to tell the world that the officers who inspected the taxis a few days ago had not done their duty properly, Quadros said.

The taxi union has submitted 11 demands. Besides the withdrawal of the commissioner's orders, they have also demanded a stop to alleged harassment of taximen by traffic authorities and other longstanding demands. These include the constitution of a technical committee to go into all aspects of pollution, to provide more taxi stands, withdrawal of professional tax, scrapping of taxi uniforms and badges and the rollback of the steep hike in RTO fees.