Odisha online taxi drivers protest, call for state bandh

The Odisha Online Drivers United Forum has called for an Odisha bandh after staging a peaceful protest in Bhubaneswar on Monday. The drivers, who work for platforms including Ola, Uber, Rapido and Odisha Yatri, are demanding government regulation of fares and steps to protect their interests. The forum said 21 smaller union groups have backed the bandh, with protests planned across all districts, especially strong in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

The drivers want the government to fix fares for online taxis rather than letting the platforms decide prices arbitrarily. “We have taken up this strike because these online portals have been creating problems for the last 12 years. But there has been no result. We have only one demand from the government: there should be a fixed price,” said Ganeshwar Behera, zonal head. Dinabandhu Nayak, president of Smart City Online Auto Mahasangha, said they had raised the issues with the previous and present governments without any change.