Fadnavis steps in as Marathi drive protest sparks panic

Widespread fear amongst autorickshaw and taxi drivers over rumoured steep fines linked to a state government Marathi proficiency drive erupted into street protests in parts of Mumbai on Monday, forcing Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to step in and address the panic.

During protests, some drivers tried to prevent other members from transporting passengers, inconveniencing common people in the morning hours.

Some videos circulating on social media showed demonstrations being organised in suburban Kandivali, Malad (West), Santacruz, Dahisar, Andheri and a few other locations.

A senior regional transport official at the Borivali RTO said they learnt that someone had spread misinformation among drivers that they would be fined Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 for not having working knowledge of Marathi.

Seeking to allay drivers’ concerns, Fadnavis said the objective behind the government drive mandating “working knowledge” of Marathi was not to make the drivers language experts, but to ensure they can communicate in the local language for their work. He said drivers had already been given additional time to learn the language and asserted that no licence had been cancelled.

“There is no reason to make them experts in Marathi. They should know work-related, basic Marathi,” Fadnavis added.

State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik has warned of action against RTO officials fining autorickshaw and taxi drivers for the Marathi requirement before their one-month deadline to learn the language expires.

He clarified that the August 12 government resolution stated that RTO officials will issue a month’s notice to autorickshaw and taxi drivers who lack working knowledge of Marathi and grant them time to learn the language.

He said that if they fail to meet the language requirement after a month, their licence and badge will be suspended and drivers will be given three more months to learn Marathi, failing which their licence will be cancelled.

“If an RTO official is found to have wrongly fined drivers before a month’s notice ends, action will be taken against him,” Sarnaik told reporters.

The minister, however, warned of action against drivers who intentionally refuse to learn the language.

Sarnaik’s remarks have come after Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam, the party’s north Indian face, met him and appealed for the imposition of fines to be stopped.

Nirupam also alleged that fines as high as Rs 25,000 were being slapped on drivers without issuing them a month’s notice.

On August 20, the Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) issued notices to 1,268 commercial passenger vehicle drivers, mainly autorickshaw and taxi drivers, for lacking adequate knowledge of the Marathi language. A day later, notices were issued to 1,499 non-Marathi-speaking drivers across Maharashtra.

Sarnaik said that 1,65,600 non-Marathi autorickshaw and taxi drivers had attended Marathi classes so far.

However, the drivers who lacked proficiency in the Marathi language appeared jittery.

At Laljipada in Kandivali (West), drivers staged a rasta-roko during the rush hour around 9 am. A team of police personnel reached the spot and dispersed the protesters.

A group allegedly stopped other autorickshaw and taxi drivers, including those operating app-based cabs, from ferrying passengers. They allegedly forced some drivers to make passengers deboard vehicles. Some drivers also complained that the protesters tried to damage their vehicles.

“Rickshaw drivers are forming groups, forcibly removing passengers from rickshaws! Oshiwara Mega Mall,” Arvind Rao, an X user, wrote on the microblogging site.

A leader of an auto-rickshaw and taxi union attributed the protests to panic among some drivers unable to communicate in Marathi and fear of losing livelihoods. He said such drivers tried to stage protests and stopped other drivers from transporting passengers.

“Not a single union has given a strike or agitation call,” the leader said, adding that some groups of drivers staged protests at various locations in the western suburbs, where the number of non-Marathi-speaking drivers is significant.

The situation normalised in the second half of the day, he said.