Click to play videoMumbai: Fetching a taxis or an auto might get difficult in Mumbai, as the transport department plans to phase out 250 such old vehicles every day.
The department wants to phase out taxis and autos older than 15 years to control pollution. That’s bad news for Indrasen Rai, who owns a taxi that is 20 years and his only source of bread and butter.
"I took the trouble to convert my taxi to CNG and now that I have repaired it the Government says remove it from the roads,” says Rai.
A L Quadros, of the Mumbai Taximen's Union, says the government didn’t consult the union. "It is not possible unless the Government gives some compensation, how can they take such a decision unilaterally," he says.
Taxi drivers’ unions allege that the government wants to phase out old vehicles to appease private fleet operators who have entered the business. They plan to launch protests if the transport department’s plan is implemented.
The transport department says that despite having CNG, older vehicles are mechanically unfit. Vehicles over 15 years are the biggest source of pollution, it says.
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