Cabbie operators expect Government to take siesta

The cabbie owners and the operators flexed their muscles around the city to protest the crackdown of the authority on the crooked taxi drivers. The protest organized by the Nepal Meter Taxi Entrepreneurs’ Association protested within the valley targeting major traffic areas bringing the traffic to a complete halt, approximately for two and half hours. The drivers flexed their muscles to protest in Durbarmarg, Putalisadak, Thamel, Kamaladi, Bhotahiti, Jamal and Balaju by resting hundreds of cabbies across the road bringing the busy traffic to a complete halt.

While the public had to get off their vehicles and walk to their destination, the police and the traffic police stood there with null action; just as the cabbie owners expected. The protesters accused the Metropolitan Traffic Department and the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology of invalid and inappropriate commotion on their daily business. The government has to say that the crackdown was an aftermath of several public complaints against the cab drivers for charging supplementary fares on the route. Such charging is surely illegitimate and violates the rights of the customers.

They demanded to raise the fare charges in accordance to the price hike. Most astonishingly, the protesters demanded to be allowed to charge exorbitant fare charges to the customers and be allowed to charge for fares with the meters off. This protest of the taxi drivers however seems they want the MTPD, the Consumer Right Protection Forum and the Government as a whole to keep silence and let them loot. The taxi drivers demanded that they must be allowed to drive and charge without the meter on. It would have been more righteous of the drivers association to demand a review over the taxi fares since it has not been reviewed or modified since last two and a half years.

According to Ram Bahadur Shrestha, the chairperson of NMTEA, the crackdown was one-sided. He further added that it was unfair to act against all as only some of the cabbie drivers were devious. But in contrary to his statement, the MTPD rounded up more than 300 crooked cab drivers on account of inappropriate charging. The amount of 300 cab drivers doesn’t seem to be SOME at all.