The members of Vikram-Auto Sanyukt Sangharsh Morcha (VASSM) warned to go on a strike if any amendments are made in the gazette notification regarding e-rickshaws issued by the State Transport Department.
The transport department has banned the entry of e-rickshaws on the main roads of the city between 8 AM to 8 PM but e-rickshaw drivers of Devbhoomi E-Rickshaw Welfare Society started protesting against it 24 days ago.
However, according to the members of VASSM, if any amendments are made in the current gazette notification favouring the e-rickshaw drivers, they too will commence a strike against the department. Regarding the support of Congress party to the e-rickshaw drivers, they said that Congress party should not just think about the protesting e-rickshaw drivers but also about the members of the other unions who are operating their vehicles in the city for a much longer time than e-rickshaw drivers.
If the members of Congress will keep supporting protesting drivers, the VASSM will be bound to run a campaign against them. On the other hand, the protesting e-rickshaw drivers have alleged that the police department is working under the influence of the unions of buses, autorickshaws and Vikrams. According to one of the protesting drivers Satyaveer Arya, “We were given the date of February 8 to meet Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Traffic, Kewal Khurana but nobody from the department has talked about the meeting since that day.
We were given many dates to meet the officials of the department but the meeting never happened. The department is making excuses to avoid the meeting because of unions of buses, autorickshaws and vikrams.“Vikrams and autorickshaws break so many rules and regulations but the police rarely act against them. We understand that they may not agree with our demands but isn’t it their duty to respond to the public who they work for? The administration is trying to suppress our voice by using different methods but neither will we leave this place nor will we suspend our protest till we are allowed to drive on the main roads,” added Bishan Thapa, another driver.
It is pertinent to mention here that after slate meeting with DIG, traffic was deferred again on Thursday; the district president of Devbhoomi E-rickshaw Welfare Society Ravindra Tyagi was admitted to Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) hospital after his blood pressure reportedly increased.