Kochi: It seems the police and the district administration are turning a blind eye to the issues between Uber, auto and other taxi drivers in Kochi. According to the police, a total of 33 cases were registered in Kochi alone after Uber and autorickshaw drivers clashed. If the counter cases being filed by the respective opposite party are also considered, the number would be even higher. North railway station and Aluva region are the worst-hit. Five cases were registered in Aluva, six at Ernakulam central, four at Ernakulam north and four at Palarivattom police station. After the attack on Mr K.N. Gopinath, Ernakulam district president, Centre of Indian Trade Unions and CPM district committee member, by a person at Palarivattom, more cases piled up.
According to a spokesperson of Uber, the authorities are not helping them even after the High Court intervened in the issue and asked the police to take up the matter. The representatives of Uber on Wednesday held discussions with Ernakulam collector Mohammed Y. Safirulla and raised their grievances. According to sources, there are close to 12,000 Uber drivers in Kochi.
On Wednesday, a fashion designer based in Kochi lodged a complaint with the police after auto drivers objected to an Uber driver picking her at North railway station. Vidhya Gopalakrishnan, the complainant also shot a video on her mobile and uploaded it on YouTube.
Woman faces anti-Uber rage:
Vidya Gopalakrishnan had no idea that the day would be any different when she stepped out at the Ernakulam South Railway Station at 7 am on Wednesday. But it was going to be a long day, beginning with her call to the online taxi service Uber and the driver coming inside the station to pick her up. Those familiar with the ways of the station might know what happened next. More than a dozen auto rickshaw drivers waiting outside the station rushed in to harass the driver and then Vidya too when she tried to explain. But Vidya's bigger shock came when she called the control room and the policeman who came to the spot took the side of the rick drivers and asked her to not take the cab service.
"After that, there was a lot of threatening, the language of the drivers - including local taxi drivers who had also joined the attack by then - changed and names were called. One of them tried to beat up the Uber driver and it is only when I tried to stop it that the policeman interfered," Vidya says. She had by then taken a video of the attack and the drivers were demanding her to delete it. She asked why should she if their claim that they were doing no wrong was true. "They were talking about having an arrangement with Uber about not sending their taxis for pickup inside the station. If that were the case, wouldn't the passengers be alerted of that rule?" Vidya asks. She said this to the crowd but there was no one to listen. When the words took an ugly turn, an agitated Vidya asked for more help and more policemen came to the spot. But again only one of them - Mr. Nandagopal from the central station - was ready to take her side. It was he that let her go home in the cab in the end. "If I had got out of the cab, they would have trashed the driver, who was bold enough to stay with me throughout this episode."
The video she took and uploaded on Youtube got picked up and shared on social media. Vidya, a Kochi-based fashion designer, had just come from Bengaluru, and had no cash in hand, prompting her to book the cab so she could transfer the money online.
