Taxi operators in the city have decided to defer their indefinite strike scheduled to begin from November 12. After a meeting with State Transport Minister Ranjit Kundu today the taxi operators said they will not stick to their original plan but, at the same time, will hold token protests.

Since the High Court ban on pre-1993 commercial vehicles from August 1, thousands of taxis were taken off the road and asked to apply for replacement within the stipulated period of time. Initially there were a few hiccups, with the taxi operators refusing to see reason in the High Court decision. They were also scared of falling under the debt trap with the new vehicles. Later, they started applying for replacements.

“We have been facing lots problems and we did not have any other way out but to call a strike. However, today we shared out thoughts with the transport minister and he has promised to look into the matter. So we decided to defer our strike, but we would continue to hold token protests. On December 2, we will hold a review meeting to plan our next step,” said Bimal Guha, president, Taxi Bachao Committee and Bengal Taxi Union.

Among other things, taxi owners demanded permission to get supplies from Maruti Omnis, alleging that there is a delay in the delivery of Ambassador cars from Hindustan Motors, whom the government has tied up with. According to the operators, of the 6,832 cars, 1,800 have got replacement orders, while almost 5,000 are still waiting.

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