One-day autorickshaw strike today

Following a state-wide meeting of autorickshaw unions, the Mumbai Autorickshawmen's Union has decided to call off its planned indefinite strike from Monday and will instead hold a day-long protest, demanding a bigger hike in fare.

Most autorickshaws will stay off the roads on Monday to participate in the protest to be held at Government Colony in Bandra, next to the Transport Commissioner's office.

"We will wait for the Assembly session to get over to present our demands to the government. Then, if our demands are not accepted, there would be an state-wide strike," said Shashank Rao, assistant general secretary of the union.

"We are not happy with the Re-1 hike. Moreover, we are not satisfied that the hike was only for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region," he said.

Members of various autorickshaw unions had a meeting in Pune on Saturday night where it was decided that the plan for an indefinite strike would be put on hold, Rao said.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) had on Friday decided to hike the minimum fare for autorickshaws by a rupee, barely six months after it had cleared a 50-paise hike for every additional kilometre beyond the first 1.6 kilometres. The agency also decided to appoint a one-man committee to devise a separate formula for the fare calculation of autorickshaws and taxis.

Rao's union has been demanding the minimum fare to be revised to Rs 16 and an increase of Rs 2 in the fare for every additional kilometre.

However, the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) autorickshaw unions will not join Monday's strike. "Whatever our demands are, we will try to sort them out through negotiations," Anil Parab of the Shiv Sena union said.

Similarly, all autorickshaws under the MNS-organised union will continue to ply. Haji Arafat Shaikh, who heads the MNS union, said the commuter should not be burdened by frequent fare hikes. Instead, the government should help the autorickshaw drivers and owners with some subsidy on petrol, LPG and CNG, he said.

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