Taxi unions have retorted with a threat of an autorickshaw strike on Wednesday if the commissioner did not immediately drop his orders calling taxis for reinspections.

Lal spoke to the media this evening after a futile hour-long wait for members of the taxi unions who boycotted his meeting, signalling that the strike was on.

``It's sad that the taxi union boycotted the meeting and despite our persistent efforts to contact them, they adopted this obstinate approach saying they wouldn't come for negotiations,'' Lal said. All the concerned parties had been called to the meeting, including automobile manufacturers, traffic police commissioner, private car owners and NGOs, and all issues would have been discussed, Lal said.

``We regret that they have takenthis stand, but we're sure the people of Mumbai will breathe better air tomorrow,'' he added.

The immediate provocation for the strike was that the three RTOs in the city had begun issuing 400 notices a day to all taxis over 15 years old. These taxis were directed to appear for reinspection within a week's time. The first taxis were due to turn up for inspection today. However, the union announced they would boycott this drive.

``What else can you do if somebody wants to openly defy a law-enforcing authority, this isn't civil disobedience and the British Raj,'' Lal said.

But Mumbai Taximen's Union general secretary A L Quadros has other ideas. ``Lal is acting like a dictator and his officers enforcing PUC checks are like the government officials who ran forcible sterilisation programmes during the Emergency,'' he charged, adding that Lal's orders were illegal. The transport commissioner had misled the unions by asking them to come for two meetings today, he said.

Responding to Lal's warning on permitcancellation, Quadros urged the commissioner to do his worst. ``We heard of similar threats during the 18-day taxi agitation in 1972, but no one dared touch the taxis,'' he warned. Quadros said rickshaw unions in Mumbai and Thane would go on a strike on Wednesday if Lal did not withdraw his orders. A delegation of both unions is to meet the Chief Minister on Tuesday and present him with a list of demands.

According to Lal, the drive asking old taxis to come back for fitness tests was started since a large number of taxis had been noticed as being unfit to ply on roads. ``They have no brake lights, their indicators don't work and they discharge thick black smoke,'' Lal said. A team of 20 vehicle inspectors had been deployed in the three RTOs to examine the taxis.

Lal denied allegations by taxi unions that his department was targetting only taxis. ``In six days, we have suspended registrations of 217 private cars as opposed to 214 taxis for pollution.'' In the 4 months since the department had begun itsdrive against pollution, the intent was not to extract fines but to send out a message to people to rectify their engines, Lal said.

And if taxi unions considered extending their strike, Lal said he would consider relaxing restrictions which the taxi union has long been supporting. ``We may have to consider other measures like extending permits of autorickshaws to allow them to ply in south Mumbai,'' he warned.

In a notice given to taxis, Lal has said they had been issued permit under section 74 (2) of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 and had to operate under its conditions. If anybody is found involved in an illegal strike, action will be initiated under Section 86 of the Motor Vehicle Act.

``We can go up to the extent of suspending taxi permits,'' said deputy commissioner (enforcement), Satish Sahastrabuddhe.

Lal announced the drive making PUC certificates mandatory for obtaining fuel would be made compulsory for the rest of the city from November 15 onwards. The order is presently applicable only inthe island city. Polluting trucks would be checked at border checkposts for pollution from November 1, he said.

BEST chips in

BEST will deploy an additional 600 buses during the one-day taxi strike on Tuesday. According to a BEST spokesperson, while the undertaking earlier deployed 2,800 buses, it would now pull out its reserve fleet to run a total of 3,400 vehicles, including mini-buses. A/C and luxury buses would be run in to service passengers in the domestic and international airports.