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Nearly 30,000 taxis will be off the roads disrupting normal transport on July 25 and 26 in Kolkata as four taxi operators’ unions called for a 48-hour strike on Friday demanding increase in fares.
A meeting with the State Transport Minister, Mr Madan Mitra, on Friday remained unproductive in this regard. Mr Bimal Guha, General Secretary, Bengal Taxi Association, one of the four unions, said: “The State transport department has done nothing to meet our nine demands before July 4 as promised.”
Apart from a hike in taxi fares — both during the day and night — the operators requested the State Government to look into demands such as creating dedicated taxi stands, advertisements on taxis, forming four pollution control centres across the city, and a stop to police harassment for driving licence and insurance issues.
The other three unions supporting the strike are West Bengal Drivers’ Welfare Association, the AITUC-backed Calcutta Taxi Operator’s Union and the CITU-backed West Bengal Drivers’ Workers Union.
Mr Guha added that the operators might go for 72-hours strike in August if the government doesn’t pay heed even after this two-day strike.
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