Bhubaneswar: The All Odisha Online Bike Association Thursday wrote to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urging him for an unconditional and phased conversion of white number plate bike taxis in the Capital City.
The letter of the driver union, representing aggregator-run bike taxis, follows a recent ban on white number-plate bike taxis in the City after which major bike taxi operators Uber and Ola reportedly limited their operations, allowing only those using yellow number-plate bikes to operate.
This has adversely affected their livelihood, they alleged. They also feared that a similar decision by food-aggregators Zomato and Swiggy will result in extreme distress for an estimated over 10,000 bike taxi drivers.
The letter also focuses on the Transport Department’s decision regarding requirement of a no-due certificate from banks, and clearance of all pending traffic challans as part of the process to convert white number plate to yellow commercial number plates.
They have requested one-month moratorium to allow drivers to convert their bikes into commercial vehicles while permitting them to continue driving during this period.
