Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Widespread fear among autorickshaw and taxi drivers over rumoured steep fines linked to the Maharashtra government’s Marathi proficiency drive led to protests in parts of Mumbai on Monday, prompting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to step in and address the panic.
During the protests, some drivers tried to stop others from carrying passengers, causing inconvenience to commuters during the morning rush. The state government said the Marathi requirement was meant only to ensure basic work-related communication and not to make drivers language experts.
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Videos on social media showed demonstrations in Kandivali, Malad West, Santacruz, Dahisar, Andheri and some other locations. A senior regional transport official at the Borivali RTO said the department had learnt that misinformation had been spread among drivers that they would be fined Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 for not having a working knowledge of Marathi.
Seeking to calm concerns, Fadnavis said the government’s objective behind mandating a working knowledge of Marathi was not to make drivers language experts, but to ensure they could communicate in the local language for their work. He said drivers had already been given additional time to learn the language and asserted that no licence had been cancelled. “There is no reason to make them experts in Marathi. They should know work-related, basic Marathi,” Fadnavis added.
State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik said action would be taken against RTO officials if they fined autorickshaw and taxi drivers over the Marathi requirement before the expiry of the one-month deadline given to them to learn the language. He said the government resolution of August 12 made it clear that RTO officials would issue a one-month notice to drivers who lacked a working knowledge of Marathi and give them time to learn it.
He said that if drivers failed to meet the requirement after a month, their licence and badge would be suspended and they would be given three more months to learn Marathi, failing which their licence would be cancelled. “If an RTO official is found to have wrongly fined drivers before a month’s notice ends, action will be taken against him,” Sarnaik told reporters. He, however, warned of action against drivers who intentionally refused to learn the language.
Sarnaik’s remarks came after Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Nirupam met him and appealed for fines to be stopped. Nirupam also alleged that fines of up to Rs 25,000 were being imposed on drivers without giving them a month’s notice.
On August 20, the Regional Transport Offices issued notices to 1,268 commercial passenger vehicle drivers, mainly autorickshaw and taxi drivers, for lacking adequate knowledge of Marathi. A day later, notices were issued to 1,499 non-Marathi-speaking drivers across Maharashtra. Sarnaik said 1,65,600 non-Marathi autorickshaw and taxi drivers had attended Marathi classes so far.
Even so, drivers lacking proficiency in Marathi appeared anxious. At Laljipada in Kandivali West, drivers staged a rasta-roko during rush hour at around 9 am. Police reached the spot and dispersed the protesters. A group allegedly stopped other autorickshaw and taxi drivers, including app-based cab drivers, from ferrying passengers. They allegedly forced some drivers to make passengers get down from vehicles, and some drivers complained that protesters tried to damage their vehicles.
“Rickshaw drivers are forming groups, forcibly removing passengers from rickshaws! Oshiwara Mega Mall,” X user Arvind Rao wrote on the platform. A leader of an auto-rickshaw and taxi union said the protests were driven by panic among some drivers who could not communicate in Marathi and feared losing their livelihoods. He said such drivers tried to protest and stopped others from carrying passengers. “Not a single union has given a strike or agitation call,” the leader said, adding that some groups of drivers had protested at various locations in the western suburbs, where the number of non-Marathi-speaking drivers is significant.
According to the union leader, the situation returned to normal in the second half of the day, after protests triggered by rumours over fines and the Marathi language rule disrupted transport in parts of Mumbai.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
