Taxi aggregators need to be regulated, says Gadkari

NEW DELHI, Feb 19: Taxi booking apps like Uber and Olacabs need to be regulated and brought under the Motor Vehicles Act, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. "Taxi booking service providers through mobile apps also come under transportation business and they should be governed by the laws under Motor Vehicles Act," the Road, Highways and Transport Minister said. He said though the transport is a concurrent subject and fell under the ambit of both the Centre and the states but such taxi aggregators are not merely technology companies as they provide transport facility. His remarks come at a time when such online taxi aggregators have come under watch after a woman customer was allegedly raped by a driver of Uber last year. The Delhi transport department has said that all taxi aggregators, including app-based cab service providers, will have to register themselves with the department. Uber, which was banned two-and-a-half months ago after one of its drivers allegedly raped a woman, had applied for licence on January 22 to operate app-based taxi booking service through its subsidiary Resource Expert India Pvt Ltd. Yesterday, the US-based taxi aggregator Uber was given a seven-day ultimatum by the Delhi government to remove deficiencies in its application for running cabs in the National Capital, failing which its plea to procure licence will be rejected. The government, however, had issued a 'deficiency memo' on January 24 asking it to furnish all details before it as mentioned in recently introduced 'Modified Radio Taxi Scheme (2006),' an official said. The scheme was finalised on January 1 following the outrage over rape of the woman on December 5 last allegedly inside the Uber cab. Uber in a statement yesterday said, "Uber has been and will continue to work with the authorities. We are evaluating the perceived deficiencies in the time period provided to us by the government." Earlier this month Nitin Gadkari had said that the government was hopeful of Parliament's nod to the new Motor Vehicles Bill in the upcoming Budget Session. The new Road Transport and Safety Bill seeks to come down heavily on traffic offenders and proposes steep penalties for violations of traffic laws.