Taxi operators on indefinite strike in HP from tomorrow

Shimla, June 27 (UNI) Over 17,000 taxis will remain off the roads from tomorrow onwards against the Himachal Pradesh Government's decision to install metres in taxis operating within 40 km radius in Shimla and Dharamshala towns and increasing road tax.

Vishal Himachal Taxi Operators President Madan Bansal told UNI here that the operators have decided to go on an indefinite strike from tomorrow following the government's decision to make metres mandatory for taxis in the state.

''There is no sense in having metres installed on taxis bearing national permits and the government's decision is against the interests of the operators,'' he said.

Mr Bansal blamed the government for provoking the operators to go on an indefinite strike from tomorrow and said any inconvenience to the locals and tourists would be due to its intransigence.

The operators are also opposing the government's decision to hike the token (road) tax to Rs 350 per seat from Rs 200 for small vehicle and Rs 750 per seat from Rs 500 for large commercial vehicles, he said.

He said the taxi operators who were not on strike at Shimla and Dharamshala towns for the last two day but had decided to keep their taxis off the road for the fear of being issued tickets for not installing metres.

Meanwhile, State Tourism Minister G S Bali said taxi operators who were not willing to install metres could get themselves registered with the regional transport authorities (RTOs) for plying on nationakl routes.

However, their licenses would be cancelled if they were found plying on local routes without the metres, he told UNI here.

The Shimla and Kangra district administration had begun fining the taxis that were running without metres following the expiry of deadline on Sunday for fixing them.

UNI