Himachal Pradesh: Taxi operators strike complete

Shimla, Apr 30: Over 18,000 taxis across Himachal Pradesh remainedoff the roads today following a dawn-to-dusk strike called by varioustaxi operators against the government's move to introduce metered taxiservices in the state.

All taxi operators across the state have decided not to ply theirvehicles from 0600 hrs to 1800 hrs today against the government's move,a local taxi operator Sumedh Singh told UNI here.

He said, so far, the strike had been complete and peaceful acrossShimla district and added that the operators would intensify theiragitation if their demands were not met by this evening.

Alleging that the state transport officials were issuing ticketsto the taxi operators from tomorrow for not installing metres, whichwere not available in the market, he said the government should have asympathetic view of their problems.

Mr Singh said the metres, available at a few places, were beingsold at an inflated cost of Rs 1,800 as against their original price ofRs 1,200.

Meanwhile, thousands of tourists and locals were left stranded atvarious places in Manali, Kullu, Mandi, Dalhousie, Chamba, Shimla andKangra towns of the state due to the strike by the taxi operators.

UNI