While on one hand the Delhi Government held a meeting with a section of auto unions to address their issues, the other section accused the Government of being partisan for not inviting those unions that went on strike on September 2.
Various auto and taxi unions threatened that they will surrender their vehicles in protest on September 21 and will raise black flags against the Delhi Government.
"If the Government is serious to address the issues of auto drivers, they should have invited those unions that are actually fighting for the cause of auto drivers and held the strike. Instead, the Government is ignoring us and calling us anarchists," said Rajendra Soni, general secretary of Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh.
He said to counter the meeting between some auto unions and the Transport Minister, their auto union held a meeting with kaali-peeli taxi and tourist taxi unions and decided to hold a large scale exercise on September 21when they will surrender their vehicles to the Transport Department.
Meanwhile, the auto and taxi operators who met Transport Minister Gopal Rai under the leadership of All Delhi Auto Taxi Transport Congress (ADATTC) Union expressed hope that the Government will resolve their issues.
Kishan Verma, president of ADATTC who was present at the meeting with the Minister and the transport officials, said that the Government is seriously considering most of their demands and that auto operators are satisfied with the response. "We had demanded that the gramin sewa vehicles not be allowed on the city roads and be rerouted to the rural areas. We had also demanded around 2 lakh illegal rickshaws be also restricted to the small lanes and localities and not be allowed on the city roads. Another of our main demand was a complete ban on app-based taxis. The response of the Government is positive and after these demands are met, then we will consider City Taxi scheme," he said.
A senior transport department official, however, said that the route rationalisation of gramin sewa vehicles is already in process and the app-based taxis are also already banned by the Delhi Government, so there was no conflict on those issues. He, however, denied that any assurance on e-rickshaws was given by the Government during the meeting.
"The issue of e-rickshaws was barely discussed in the meeting. It was briefly mentioned by the auto unions but there was not discussion over the issue," he said. But the Government is willing to consider their demands of transfer of auto rickshaw permits and the issue of computer locking of auto rickshaws for various reasons, he said.
The official also added that the Government is trying to take auto drivers into confidence on the issue of City Taxi scheme. "We told them that the City Taxi scheme is not to hamper the livelihood of auto drivers but to reign in the app-based taxis, which is their demand as well. Also, if any family of auto driver wants to earn livelihood by driving as well, they cannot get an auto permit because of limit imposed on the same. But now they can get a permit for the small taxi under the City Taxi scheme," he said adding that it will not only benefit auto drivers who want to grow, but will also give alternate means of transport to the Delhi residents.