Taximen called off their strike after Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh today announced a suspension of the transport commissioner's drive calling taxis for fitness tests. A decision would be taken only after Diwali, he said, pleading helplessness in the face of the ongoing transport strike. And by afternoon, the cabs were back on the roads.

Annoucing this at the Sahyadri guest house on Wednesday morning after meeting a joint front of the taxi and auto unions, Deshmukh said that a decision on continuing the drive would be taken by the new state transport minister after a review. ``It's a question of the timing of the taxi strike. With the ongoing transport strike, we are very concerned with maintaining the supply of essential commodities and the only vehicles available are taxis to transport vegetables and fish,'' Deshmukh later told a meeting of NGOs.

Present attoday's meeting were senior state bureaucrats including Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar, Additional Secretary Ranganathan, Transport secretary Suresh Chandra, Transport Commissioner Lal besides senior police officials.

The one-and-a-half day old taxi strike was withdrawn immediately after the CM's declaration and jubilant taxis took to the streets celebrating their victory. Even as the CM met the union leaders, taximen parked their vehicles at key junctions blocking traffic and preventing motorists from plying. Police at key junctions including Haji Ali and Mumbai Central were left twirling their batons as angry taximen took over the roads, shouting slogans against the transport commissioner and the PUC drive. The long queue of vehicles at Haji Ali extended right upto the Kemps Corner flyover and Malabar Hill as motorists leaned out of their windows and helplessly looked on as taximen had a field day.

``Taxis are only three per cent of the overall vehicle population. There are nearly 17 lakh other vehiclesin Mumbai and Thane which are actually responsible for pollution, these include trucks and garbage dumping vehicles and private vehicles which form 40 per cent,'' said union leader Sharad Rao. The CM had been informed that taxis were being unnecessarily harassed over fitness checks and not pollution tests, he added.

``The new government said it would review all the decisions of the earlier Sena-BJP government, looks like pollution control was one of them,'' said a bitter NGO. Indeed, the drive against vehicular pollution was undertaken by Transport Commissioner Vinay Mohan Lal as soon as he took over in June this year in the last days of the Narayan Rane government. There was no interference from the state government when he suspended registrations of thousands of vehicles during the drive. Some NGOs had also written to the Chief Minister detailing the need to have checks.

Meanwhile, Lal said that his department would continue to check the 2,000 taxis to whom notices had been issued in the last few days.The department would however stop issuing fresh notices pending the appointment of a new transport minister who would review the situation.

At the meeting, the CM was confronted by distraught NGOs. ``We are distressed, why are you withdrawing the order? We can't wait for the new transport minister,'' said Zinnia Khajotia of Clean Air. ``You cannot delay decisions on the environment by 15 days,'' added Kunti Oza.

The issue now moves into court, with a petition filed by Dr Sandip Rane of the Smoke Affected Residents Forum on vehicular pollution coming up for hearing on Friday. Lal has been asked by the court to present before them a nine-point programme on the action he has been taking against pollution by diesel vehicles. Other respondents in the petition who will be presenting suggestions before the court include the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the oil companies.