Cab aggregators, bike taxis feel the heat after attacks on women passengers

City police instructs online food delivery, e-commerce firms to tighten background checks

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: After numerous reports of attack on women passengers availing ride hailing cabs and bike taxis, including the recent rape of a woman, City Police Commissioner CH Pratap Reddy has directed the bike and taxi aggregators to appoint a nodal officer to redress complaints by customers, while also co-ordinating with the police 24x7.

The top cop also directed the same set of rules for the online food and e-commerce delivery firms operating in the city. A meeting was chaired by the Bengaluru Police Commissioner on Saturday along with the representative of the app-based companies.

Senior officials including Special Commissioner of Police (Traffic) MA Saleem, Additional Commissioner of Police Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police SD Sharanappa, Joint Commissioner (Traffic) MN Anucheth and Joint Commissioner (Intelligence) Raman Gupta, were also present in the meeting.

While giving strict directions to ensure that all companies carry out background checks of their employees, Pratap Reddy also said the companies should mandatorily have details of their employees and get minimum two KYC documents from the employees for documentation along with copies of the documents of their vehicle.

He reiterated that the company should have some technology to gather feedback from customers about the service, time taken and any other remarks. This will not only instil a sense of commitment to the employee, but also ensure safety of passengers to a large extent, he said.

Speaking about the safety of the employees, the top cop assured the companies that delivery staff will be helped by the police if they are under attack or are victims of robbery or mugging. The companies will now have to highlight emergency number 112 and display stickers on their app to create awareness.

Delivery firms have been advised to ensure foolproof safety and that they are not delivering banned or contraband items. Delivery executives should be given training on etiquette while dealing with members of the general public and customers, and ensure adherence to traffic rules.

The companies should ensure that the uniform and ID card of their employees are not misused, Reddy directed the firm representatives.