Newmai News Network Aizawl | October 2 All taxi operators in Mizoram would stay off the road from Wednesday (October 3) due to an indefinite state-wide strike called by Mizoram Maxicab Owners Association (MMCOA) to register protest against the government’s failure to renew all Mizoram plying permit and hike taxi fares. The association president, C Lalthanmawia said that they had earlier asked the state government to comply with their proposal to renew all Mizoram permit, which was introduced in 1997 and increase fare failing which they threatened to stage indefinite strike. “We will go ahead with our plan as the government paid a deaf year to our appeal. All maxicabs registered in Mizoram will go on strike from October 3 for indefinite period,” he said. He also said that the strike will also cover those maxicabs running between Aizawl and Silchar and inter-state maxicabs were also asked to support the strike. Lalthanmawia alleged that maxicabs faced enormous problems after the state government revoked all Mizoram permit in 2016. After scrapping the all Mizoram plying permit, the maxicabs were given only route wise permit which put them under severe inconvenience, he said, adding that they have to pay Rs 6,000 every time they change their route. In case of emergency, when the maxicabs wanted to travel in a route other than the actual route in which they have permit, they had to obtain special route permit, he added. “Some time we have to travel in a route not covered by our permit as we are asked to carry dead bodies in case of emergency. But we face enormous problems in obtaining route permit due to lack of time and that we can’t apply online due to poor internet connectivity,” he said, adding that they were charged a fine ranging from Rs 2000 to Rs 5000 by the authority for plying outside their area. The association president then said that they had appealed to the state government several times to renew all Mizoram permit, but to no avail. Lalthanmawi also said that the association hiked the fare at Rs 3 per kilometer per head for metal road and Rs 3.50 per kilometer per head for non-metal road due to increase in fuel price. "State Transport Authority (STA), however, rejected our appeal and fixed the rate at Rs 2.50 per kilometer per head for metal road and Rs 2.75 per kilometer per head for non-metal road to our dismay," he added. “We are incurring losses by following the rate fixed by STA, which was calculated based on the assumption that every maxicabs will travel full in each journey. But there were many times we did not have full passenger,” he also said. They also met transport Minister, John Rotluangliana and Chief Minister, Lal Thanhawla over the matter several times, but the government kept mum on their plights, he rued. The indefinite strike will likely affect many commuters as maxicabs are one of the main transport vehicles in the state.
