Bengaluru: Auto and taxi drivers’ unions lodged a complaint with transport department, urging it to immediately remove mobile applications of aggregators offering bike-taxi services from app stores and online marketplaces.The unions alleged that aggregators are operating bike-taxi services without a legal framework and urged authorities not to allow them while the matter is pending before Supreme Court.In its complaint, Federation of Karnataka State Private Transport Associations demanded action against the aggregators under Motor Vehicles Act, Information Technology Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and other provisions of law. The federation has given authorities a 15-day deadline to initiate action and said drivers will display black flags on their vehicles as a mark of protest.It alleged that bike-taxi operations raise safety concerns, lack adequate insurance coverage and violate contract carriage provisions. Aggregators, they claimed, attach vehicles without adequately verifying the antecedents of vehicle owners or conducting police verification, posing a safety risk to passengers.The federation further claimed lleged that aggregators providing auto and cab services are fleecing customers by not following govt-fixed fares and demanded implementation of “one city, one fare” policy.
