Guwahati: The Assam transport department has issued a stern warning to cab associations and ride-hailing platforms such as Ola, Uber, Rapido and Peindia in the wake of recent incidents that have emerged regarding the attitude of cab drivers towards customers or passengers.
Transport officer Himangshu Kumar Das, while addressing the media, said that all the drivers are not money-oriented and some drivers do care about customer's needs.
"The entire cab service is blamed due to a few drivers who are misbehaving with customers either by asking more money, cancelling trips or denying payment methods. Any kind of inappropriate attitude towards customers will not be tolerated from now on. The cab drivers will not be able to demand extra money to customers who are availing a trip," Himangshu Kumar Das said.
"Negligence of the side of authorities of cab associations lead to such incidents where customers face danger. From, now on cab drivers have to follow strict rules. Disobeying of rules by any cab driver will lead to the cancellation of their license," the transport officer added.
"The license cancellation will take place phase-wise. The driver will not be able to take trips in the first five days of phase one. In phase two, he will not be allowed to ride his vehicle for next ten days and in the third phase, his license will be totally cancelled," he further added.
However, the transport officer has also appealed to the passengers to refrain from misbehaving with the drivers.
Notably, passengers have become afraid of the behavior of cab drivers and there have been widespread complaints from passengers regarding cab drivers refusing trips if they are not paid in cash or asking to pay more.
Meanwhile, app-based taxi service has again landed in controversy after one of its drivers beat up one of his passengers named Mohd Abuzar Choudhary and allegedly called him a Bangladeshi.
A tweet from one of the co-passenger, which has gone viral on social media, stated that they had booked a cab for Kamakhya from Ahom Gaon, althought the payment was done online but the driver wanted it in cash.
In the scuffle of words, the driver got aggressive and beat up Mohd Abuzar Choudhary with the rod, said the passenger.
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