Autorickshaw unions to hold demonstrations to repeal MV Bill

The federation would hold a demonstration at all district headquarters on Saturday to highlight their charter of demands.

Alleging that the amendments were brought to encourage corporate companies, leaders of CITU, AITUC and others said that the newly amended act completely deprives the State government of its right on the transport.

“According to the current style of permit system, an autorickshaw can only run for a specified limit. The permit has now been cancelled by the amendment. A driver’s license allows anyone with autorickshaw to operate anywhere, without limitation. This will affect the industry,” they said.

S Balasubramaniam of a CITU affiliated union said that the fees were also hiked steeply for various regulations. “The autorickshaw registration has been hiked from Rs 600 to Rs 5,000, the permit renewal fee from Rs 215 to Rs 7,500 and the fitness certificate (FC) has been increased from Rs 625 to Rs 10,000. Also, the insurance fee has been increased from Rs 3,850 to Rs 14,000,” he said.

“Call-taxi companies such as Ola and Uber operate based on their tariffs. The government must fix a tariff,” they said, demanding the government to change autorickshaw charges according to the price of petrol. Moreover, petroleum products should be brought into GST,” they said, demanding that the government to distribute the free GPS metre.