Following the incident on April 25 when a cab driver gave a 35-year-old woman and her daughter a hard time after she told him he could not refuse to ply, the traffic police claim that such situations are commonplace.

As per the statistics provided by the traffic police, 144 taxi drivers and 911 auto drivers have been booked in the past four months itself for their refusal to ply. We cannot blame the traffic cops as it’s impossible to post traffic policemen at all spots in the city.

Vivek Phansalkar, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said, “When policemen commit an offence, action is taken against them by the department. Similarly, the taxi and rickshaw unions should take action against these errant drivers.”

A traffic police officer said that the main cause for these errant drivers refusing a passenger is when they have to ply a short distance. Another reason, he said, is if they have to go out of their way, even if it is a long distance fare. “Some drivers have their areas marked and will only ply passengers inside that territory, refusing any passenger who wants to go beyond that area,” he added.

A taxi driver is fined Rs200 whereas an auto driver is fined Rs100 for refusing to take a passenger to his or her destination. These errant drivers are then produced in the court and further action is taken against them by the Regional Transport Department. If the driver is is caught doing this repeatedly, his license could be suspended.

Al Quadros, taxi union leader, tried to justify the behavior of the driver, saying, “Presently, there are 42,000 taxis in Mumbai for a population of 140 lakh, whereas in 1997, there were 62,300 taxis for a population of 80 lakh. With the increase in number of people, ideally, the number of cabs should have also increased, but this has not happened. A taxi when going to the suburbs will probably have to return empty, thus sustaining losses. Train and bus services are reduced during lean hours, but this is not done with taxis and rickshaws.”

Reacting to Quadros justification, Phansalkar stated that these drivers are driving public utility vehicles and it is their duty to take the passengers to their destination. “When their demands for a fare hike have been met, there should no reason to refuse a passenger. These drivers must be trained before they start driving and in such cases, the RTO should take strict action against them to ensure that the rules are followed,” Phansalkar added.