Autorickshaw and taxi drivers staged a protest in Coimbatore on Tuesday against the Union Government’s decision to amend the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. The Kovai Mavatta Auto Thozhilalar Sangam, a CITU affiliate, said that by amending the law to increase imprisonment to 10 years for fatal accidents, raising compensation, and fine for other offences, the Union Government aimed at crushing the autorickshaw trade.
The move would affect the automobile mechanics who were dependent on the trade.
P.K. Sukumaran, an autorickhsaw union leader, said that the government’s aim was to bring in corporate companies. He claimed that if the amended rules were to be enforced, only corporate companies would run the regional transport offices.
Around 100 drivers participated in the protest.