Maharashtra: Rickshaw unions protest against bike taxis in Pune

Several autorickshaw unions protested against bike-taxis operating in Pune and parked their three-wheelers in the middle of the roads at RTO chowk.

Police detained several people for the protest, which caused heavy traffic jams on nearby routes due to vehicles being parked in the middle of the road, an official said. 

We removed autorickshaws that were parked in the middle of the road (as part of the protest) to ensure citizens don’t face problems while commuting, Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Karnik said.

Police officials said some persons were detained for not heeding requests to remove their vehicles from the middle of the road.

Keshav Kshirsagar, president of the city-based ‘Baghtoy Rickshawala Sanghatana’ said they resorted to this chakka jam protest as all pleas to the authorities to stop operations of these “illegal bike taxis” had fallen on deaf ears.