e-auto drivers allege harassment by motor workers’ union leaders

Forum urges MVD, police to take action against offenders

The drivers of nearly 150 electric autorickshaws in the city on Thursday approached the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD) authorities with a call to initiate legal action against a section of motor workers’ union leaders who allegedly called for disrupting the service of e-rickshaws, citing the lack of city service permit.

Electric autorickshaw drivers approached the MVD after submitting their written petition to the Nadakkavu police in connection with a recent incident in which one of them was forced to stop the service midway. Along with the auto-rickshaw driver, a passenger who was insulted during the protest, also filed a separate petition.

“Some of the conventional autorickshaw drivers’ argument is that we should also secure city service permits for operations. There is no such provision for electric autorickshaws,” said E. Sreeraj, president of the Kozhikode District Electric Autorickshaw Drivers’ Committee. He said that the details of a drivers’ union leader who exhorted first to block electric autorickshaws were handed over to the police and the MVD for follow-up action. According to Mr. Sreeraj, many electric autorickshaw drivers were ill-treated by the motor workers’ union activists in the past with a claim that they were becoming jobless with the entry of electric vehicles. “On many occasions, we were finding it hard to get the support of the police to book such offenders and move the legal way against the injustice,” he claimed.