Cab stir continues for fifth day

The cab strike launched by different unions of cab drivers in the city will continue for the fifth day on Thursday as well, even as police on Wednesday removed more than 250 members of the Telangana Cab Drivers and Owners Association (TSDOA), who were staging a dharna at Indira Park from Tuesday.

The strike, which began on December 31, was initially slated to be till Wednesday. However, with cab aggregators, including Ola and Uber against whose policies the strike is, not coming forward for talks with the agitators, the strike is set to continue indefinitely.

Around 8 pm on Wednesday, police personnel had to resort to force to remove drivers owing allegiance to the TSDOA, who were staging a dharna and hunger strike at Indira Park since Tuesday. Ch Suresh, vice-president



of the union alleged that 250 drivers were taken into preventive custody and shifted to Chikkadpally, Musheerabad and Gandhi Nagar police stations. This included association president Shiva Vulkundakar. Police, meanwhile, said 50 drivers were taken into preventive custody.

Suresh, stating that both Ola and Uber had not responded to demands to hold talks, and hence the strike would continue. The demands of the drivers primarily revolve around getting Ola and Uber to stop registering new cabs, since the existing drivers were not getting enough business to pay their car loans or meet daily expenses. They also want to stop the motorbike taxis launched by these two, apart from doing away with the cab sharing system, which they claim was eating into their share of revenue.