OLAUBER CABS ON ROADS TODAY AS DRIVERS END 12DAY STRIKE

MUMBAI: After a12-day strike, Ola and Uber cabs will be back on the roads from Saturday as drivers withdrew their protest on Friday night.

The Maharashtra Rajya Rashtriya Kamgar Sangh (MRRKS) decided to withdraw the strike after a four-hour meeting with the aggregators at the Mantralaya where the latter assured them the fare scheme will be revised based on fuel prices.

The meeting was chaired by transport minister Diwakar Raote. The cabbies had gone on strike on October 22 to demand higher income, among other things. Sachin Ahir, president of MRRKS, said, “We will welcome the fare scheme if it is above the existing one. Depending upon the proposal, we will decide our next move. Until then we have decided to suspend our agitation to avoid further trouble.” Ahir said they are going to hold a meeting with the aggregators on November 15.

Ahir also said the aggregators have announced some incentive schemes for the drivers during four days of Diwali. During the meeting, Raote asked the aggregators to continue the incentive schemes till November 15. He also urged the union and the aggregators to take decisions mutually, without putting the burden of fare hike on commuters. However, the aggregators were asking for more time to take a decision.

The protesting drivers had demanded the fares be revised to ₹18, ₹20 and ₹23 for each kilometre, depending on the type of cabs. The cab aggregators have agreed to pay ₹12, ₹15, and ₹19 for each kilometre. Ola and Uber have also agreed to reinstate drivers who had been blacklisted because of low customer ratings.

The end of the strike will be a relief for commuters who suffered in the past 13 days as hardly any of the app-based cabs were available for booking. Mumbai has around 50,000 cabs, of which 8,000-10,000 are app-based. Earlier in the day, according to messages doing the rounds, a section of drivers were planning to bring their cabs back on the roads owing to their worsening financial conditions.

OLAUBER ASSURED THE DRIVERS THAT THE FARE SCHEME WILL BE REVISED BASED ON FUEL PRICES AND BLACKLISTED CABBIES WILL BE REINSTATED