Union says 10 Pearson taxi and limo drivers have died in pandemic
Karam Singh Punian, who ran for Mississauga council, is among victims
At least 10 taxi and limo drivers working out of Pearson International Airport have died since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, including three more since Friday, the drivers’ union says.
Those drivers include Karam
Singh Punian, who died Monday, and Akashdip Grewal, who died Friday, said Rajinder Aujla, president of the Airport Taxi Association, which represents about 700 drivers operating about 350 vehicles licenced to pick up passengers at Pearson.
“It’s very much scary,” Aujla said, adding he’s angry that more had not been done to protect drivers working at the airport “when people have been travelling from all over the world.”
Punian, who ran twice for Mississauga council and appeared on local radio, leaves behind his wife, two sons, a niece under his care and a granddaughter, his brother-in-law Sohan Gill told the Star.
“He was a wonderful man,” Gill said. “He was a person that would think of other people ahead of himself.”
Punian, 59, first got sick at the end of March and isolated himself at home after receiving a diagnosis — but his symptoms worsened and he was eventually put on a ventilator at Toronto General Hospital, where he died, Gill said. Both Punian and Grewal drove for the airport limo company Aerofleet, said dispatcher Manpreet Khushdil, who played soccer with Grewal, who also died at Toronto General.
“Whenever we had troubles at the office, he would call and help the dispatchers,” Khushdil said. “Everybody liked him. He was a funny and jovial guy.”
Including Punian and Grewal, Khushdil said three Aerofleet drivers have now died in the pandemic.
According to Aujla, at least six of the 10 dead ATA drivers were diagnosed outright with COVID-19 and the others had suspected cases.
It is not clear if the drivers picked up the virus on the job. Still, Aujla said: “If precautionary measures had been taken on time, then this might not have happened.”