Not our fault if govt was sleeping for a year: Uber drivers

Drivers associated with app-based taxi services held a protest at Jantar Mantar to demand that they be allowed back on the streets till a long-term security mechanism can be devised.

Taxi drivers associated with Uber shout slogans during a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on Friday.— Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

After having driven cabs belonging to others around the Capital for 20 years, a few months ago, Raj Kumar Yadav took his life’s savings, added a hefty bank loan and bought a car.

“When Uber came to India, we had such great hopes as it pays more and allows us more freedom that thousands of us took huge loans to buy our own cars. And things were fine till the government banned the service,” Mr. Yadav said.

App-based taxi booking services Uber, Ola and TaxiForSure were banned by the Delhi Government earlier this week after Uber driver Shiv Kumar Yadav was accused of raping a passenger on December 5.

Drivers associated with the services held a protest at Jantar Mantar here on Friday to demand that they be allowed back on the streets till a long-term security mechanism can be devised.

At the protest, the drivers maintained that they were not against stringent police and government verification processes. They added that these app-based services had been active in the Capital for about a year and the government had allowed the same.

“We all have valid licenses, registration and passenger service vehicle cards. The government allowed us to operate through the app,” said Uber driver Balwinder Singh.

Another driver Kamlesh added: “The government was sleeping so far and has woken up now. But we are suffering because of this as we have loan repayments to make.”

The drivers said panic buttons can be fitted in the cabs or the app itself, and GPS devices should also be installed.