India

Diesel, petrol cabs go off roads, owners warn of suicides

The Supreme Court’s ban on plying of diesel and petrol driven taxis in Delhi took effect on Sunday, with three taxi owners warning this might lead to suicides in frustration.

Cab operators termed the apex court’s decision tyrannical, saying if the decision was not changed then it will lead many of them to commit suicide. Over 27,000 taxis run on diesel alone in Delhi.

The cab operators told IANS that they had decided to launch a protest after mutual consultations. They claimed that almost half the taxis were run on diesel in the national capital.

According to transport department, about 60,000 taxis are registered in the national capital and of them 27,000 are running on diesel. Around 2,000 diesel-run taxis had converted into CNG mode in the last two months.

“I have cancelled 17 bookings since morning as most of my taxis are run on diesel. I have only five taxis run by CNG. We do not understand why the court and Government come up with such decisions?” S. Kumar, owner of Kumar Taxi Services in central Delhi, told IANS.

The Supreme Court on Saturday refused to give more time to taxi operators to switch to the cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG). The deadline for the change, which had been extended twice, was Saturday.

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