4K taxi drivers test positive for Covid

Cash-strapped drivers say no help received from cab aggregators

More than 4,000 registered drivers of Uber, Ola and other cab aggregators have been infected by Coronavirus, claim a senior official of Telangana state taxi drivers body. He also said that there was no help offered to them by cab aggregators.

Drivers say that many passengers opting for cabs are Covid-19 positive. Mostly those who are seeking cab services are for trips to the hospital or back from hospitals. Drivers have no option to say no as the trip is booked online. If they refuse a passenger, huge penalties are slapped on them or sometimes their services are discontinued.

Given that the metro and RTC busses have been suspended, cabs are the only easily available transport services. However, cab commuters express concern that when the driver is asymptomatic or has not gone for a test, passengers are at high risk for the transmission of virus.

On August 13, E. Nagesh, driver, was confirmed as Covid-19-positive. He is in home quarantine.

According to Nagesh, it is difficult to isolate himself in a rented house, with two children who are 10 and 8. He informed the aggregator company to which his car is attached, but the company offered him no help.

“There has been no call of concern or any type of help extended. We used to see in the media that these companies have extended crores of rupees to support the drivers during the lockdown, but none of the drivers I know have got any help from them. Where is that money gone?” Nagesh asks.

Before the nation-wide lockdown, there were 1.2 lakh drivers mostly operating in the city. Among them, 35,000 were registered drivers for Ola, Uber and other aggregators in the city.

“There were passengers who are Covid-19-positive who travelled in the cab in spite of knowing they are positive. One such case came to my knowledge when the person forgot his hospital reports in the cab. In an attempt to trace his phone number, the reports were opened and I came to know he is Covid-19-positive.”

“The drivers are in a bad financial state. Many of the drivers are jobless. Those who have bought their vehicles on EMIs are unable to pay the monthly instalments. Apart from that, it is estimated across the 16 associations of drivers, more than 4,000 drivers have been infected,” said Shaik Salauddin, the chairman of Telangana state taxi and drivers Joint Action Committee.

Ramakrishna Yadav, who started his career as a cabbie in

2013, was diagnosed with

Covid-19 last month. Yadav, who lives in a rented house at Uppal with his wife and two children, he said, “I was infected by one of the passengers. There is no protection for the drivers; companies are just concerned about their profits.”