Ranchi: Tourists and commuters in the city faced inconvenience on Sunday as thousands of cabs began an indefinite strike on Sunday, demanding a fare revision and alleging that cab aggregators have not raised rates despite repeated fuel price hikes over the past month.Jharkhand Pradesh Taxi Union claimed that at least 9,000 cab drivers in Ranchi and around 20,000 in the entire state have extended support to the strike call.State president of the union, Amit Ojha, said that while the cost of diesel and petrol have increased exorbitantly following the West Asia crisis, their fares remained unchanged, leading them to incur losses.“In the past month, diesel has been hiked by at least Rs 12 per litre, but we are still operating the cabs at the previous commissions of Rs 17 per km paid to us by various aggregator companies. The stagnant pricing has forced us to call for the indefinite strike, and unless it is changed, we will not resume our work,” Ojha added.He further said that the union discussed the matter with company managements based in Bengaluru. “Although they promise to revise the fares, they have not taken any action, prompting us to call for the strike,” Ojha said.The strike disrupted transport services across the city, leaving many commuters scrambling for alternative modes of travel. However, the impact was partially offset as bike taxi services continued to operate, providing some relief to passengers.Several commuters at the Ranchi airport and Ranchi and Hatia railway stations reported longer waiting times and higher dependence on e-rickshaws and bike taxis, in the absence of cabs.Abhishek Kumar, a commuter who reached Ranchi from Patna, waited for at least an hour to reach his home on Ratu Road, around 10 km from the railway station.“I often take cabs to reach home from the station. Like other days, I tried booking cabs for nearly half an hour. Later, I had to book an autorickshaw, paying Rs 500 to reach home,” he said.
