After 3rd day,strike called off

The decision to withdraw the strike came after the Rickshaw Panchayat got an assurance that all issues of rickshaw drivers would soon be addressed.

The assurance came after a daylong meeting attended by the president of Rickshaw-Tempo Panchayat Dr Baba Adhav,Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Manoj Patil,MLC Mohan Joshi,member of Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Baba Shinde and RTO Chandrakant Kharatmal.

While the deliberations were on,citizens suffered for the third consecutive day,thousands of schoolchildren among those at the receiving end. There are over 6,000 auto-rickshaws in the city that transport thousands of children to school and back every day.

In many schools,mid-term examinations are on,as schools had rescheduled classes after closure for three weeks in August due to swine flu. “The strike was a major inconvenience for the students and their parents. We decided to use our four-wheeler and pick up some classmates of my child. Many other parents did the same,” said Ashish,a parent.  

Other regular commuters as well as people visiting the city or those headed out by trains and flights also suffered. Friends and relatives of passengers had to ferry them themselves.  

Around 7.30 pm,the strike was called off.

At the meeting held at the police commissionerate in the DCP (traffic) office,it was decided auto-rickshaw drivers’ demand of the status of public service provider as well formation of a welfare board for them will be taken in a week’s time at a special meeting to be convened by the state Transport Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil.  

The meeting also decided to not make uniforms mandatory for rickshaw drivers until a decision is taken on giving them the status of public servants.  

It was also promised that the issue of the Re 1 per km hike in fare would be taken up in an RTA meeting,to be convened within a week.

During the meeting,it was also decided that from now onwards,there would be a separate tariff for fine to be charged on small goods carriers,light motor vehicles and heavy vehicles,if any were booked under Section 190 (2) of the Motor Vehicles Act,1988 for overloading.  

Transport body takes load,profits
During the strike,the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) pushed 70 extra buses into service,taking the day’s fleet strength to 1,462,that among them made about 22,000 trips in the city. This Sunday,the PMPML earnings touched Rs 93 lakh,up from Rs 80 lakh on regular Sundays.  Meanwhile,the Maharashtra Navnirman Vahtuk Sena plied about 300 auto-rickshaws,by sporting its party flag to avoid attacks by the rickshaw drivers’ fraternity.   ENS