The protest organised by Rickshaw Panchayat, however, had a limited impact on the rickshaw availability in the city with most of them operational.

The rickshaw drivers argued that the ₹50 daily penalty for late RTO passing sets excessive strain on their already low earnings and demanded a permanent cancellation or suspension of this fine.

Bike taxi threat

“On May 29, we protested at the Collector’s office asking them to stop imposing the daily fine of Rs 50. But even a month on, the government has still done nothing. To top that, the state government is in talks about permitting bike taxis in Maharashtra, which will make it harder for rickshaw drivers to find work,” informed Nitin Pawar, general secretary of the Rickshaw Panchayat.

“Government decisions, such as Rs 50 fines for delays in fitness certificates and the permission granted to bike taxis, are part of a bigger strategy to exploit the common man,’ said Dr Baba Adhav, president of the state rickshaw organisation action committee and the rickshaw and tempo panchayat. He also condemned the government for using fines for traffic rule violations as a revenue tool instead of creating discipline, pleading with citizens to unite against such unjust decisions.” If the state government takes no action on these issues, we will carry out a large demand march with rickshaws and tempos on August 14,” he warned.

Rickshaw driver Siddarth Chavan, 62, said, “I can’t afford a daily fine of Rs 50. I have a family to feed and children’s education to pay for. We don’t earn much these days due to the growth of online platforms. I hope the government reduces this fine.”

Bharat Uttekar, 59, also said, “I used to earn about Rs 1,200 a day before the widespread use of Ola and Uber rides. Now I get around 600 a day, and so I can’t afford a daily fine of Rs 50 which adds up to Rs 1,500 a month.”

The demands

A memorandum of demands was handed over to assistant regional transport officers Amar Desai and Yuvraj Patil, asking the government to stall the policy permitting bike taxis, suspend the daily fine for fitness certificate delays, and also extend the time frame for obtaining fitness certificates, change the Rickshaw Welfare Board’s decisions to make it more independent, stop the granting of open permits and open rickshaw badges, prohibit the freight transportation portal app, which has an impact on the livelihood of small- and medium-tempo drivers, and renew the fine of twenty thousand rupees for long-distance transport and reimpose the earlier fine of Rs 50.