Auto drivers protest against govt’s move to allow bike taxis

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Auto-rickshaw drivers staged a protest against the proliferation of bike taxis in Bengaluru, demanding that the state government ban them.  

The demonstrators took out a rally from Majestic Railway Station to Freedom Park. They claimed that aggregators were destroying the livelihoods of cabbies and autorickshaws by offering pitiful incentives and robbing them of their autonomy. Some protesters proceeded to Vidhana Soudha, where they were detained.

Congress threw its weight behind the protests as well, with Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president and former state transport minister Ramalinga Reddy promising that, were Congress to come to power, they would take a decision that was “favourable to autorickshaw drivers”.

“After the upcoming elections, there will be no BJP government. Our government will be in power. Then, we will take a decision that will be convenient to you all,” Reddy said.