The reconciliation talks between the state transport officials and the Sharad Rao-led Mumbai Autorickshawmen’s Union failed to yield results on Thursday, as the former refused to relent even as authorities assured that a fresh committee would be formed to decide the fare formula for future hikes.
“We gave assurances that the government would form the committee and appealed to them to withdraw the strike as it would inconvenience people,” said S. K. Sharma, princi-pal secretary (transport).
However, Mr Rao’s union is adamant on their demand for an interim fare hike and stated that his union will go ahead with the indefinite strike on April 16. Mr Rao added that there was no clarity in the assurances.
“We have decided to go ahead with the strike as the government should agree to declare an interim fare hike. If the government is forming a fresh committee, then our representatives should also be members of it,” said Mr Rao. The union wants an interim increase from `11 to `16 for the base fare and from `7 to `9 for subsequent kilometres.
Meanwhile, another autorickshaw union, Mumbai Rickshawmen’s Union (MRU) that also had a meeting with the state transport officials on Thursday stated that the police should initiate actions on April 16 if there is a law and order situation. “As the demand of forming a committee has been agreed to, we will ply our autorickshaws and there will be no protests. We have demanded police to initiate actions if any one is involved in violence on April 16,” said Thampy Kurien, leader of MRU. Mr Rao has threatened that nearly 7.5 lakh autorickshaws across the state, with around 1.8 lakh in the city, will stop plying the roads from midnight on April 15.