As the national capital’s bike taxi ban debate heats up, the Delhi government is planning to ask food delivery and ecommerce companies to instruct delivery executives not to use their two-wheelers as bike taxis.
“We are not catching anyone operating in the food delivery and ecommerce sector,” said Ashish Kundra, principal secretary and commissioner of the Delhi Transport Department, according to ET. If there have been any incidents of food delivery workers being given challans, it is possible that they were also working as bike taxis, which is illegal.” In fact, many delivery workers also work as bike taxi drivers to supplement their income when they are not on delivery duty. However, many delivery executives have received challans as a result of this.
In a public notice issued on February 20, the Delhi government banned bike taxis and directed aggregators to cease operations in the national capital region. The transport department stated that bike taxis violate the Motor Vehicle Act of 1988, and warned aggregators such as Uber, Ola, and Rapido that they could face a fine of up to INR 1 Lakh if they were found operating bike taxis despite the ban. Following the ban, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) urged the Delhi government not to take any coercive action against bike taxi drivers and aggregators.
According to the senior official, the state transportation department will send a letter to all ecommerce and food delivery companies by the end of Friday. The news comes two days after the Delhi government issued a notice to Ola, Uber, and Rapido for violating the ban. According to media reports, the state transportation department was issuing challans to delivery executives riding two-wheelers. Swiggy and Zomato wrote to Kundra, claiming that the RTO’s recent directions on two-wheelers had been misrepresented.
