Delhi Government Asks IT Ministry to Block Uber, Meru Genie and Ola Mobile Apps
The app-based taxi services have made it possible for us to travel with ease. What more can one expect than a car waiting at your doorstep? But the question still hovers around their registration issues.
Recent news points out that the Union Information Technology Ministry has been asked by the Delhi Government to block the mobile applications of Ola, Uber and Meru Genie taxi-hailing companies. That means soon these taxi service providers are going to cease their operations, unless they receive their licence in time.
This nationwide ban was issued for all unregistered web-based taxi companies in December last year because of a knee-jerk reaction to the rape of a female in the capital by a Uber driver. In spite of this ban, Uber the US-based taxi service company brought out UberX, a low-cost option with a new revised fare charts to operate in January. Ola, backed by Japan’s SoftBank Corp also applied for a radio taxi license, and they continued to contravene the December order.
As of now, license has been provided to Easy Cab, Yo Cab, Mega Cab, Meru Cab, Chanson Cab and Air Cab by the Delhi Transport Authority.
The government opines that they are not against these public convenient services. But they’d like them to follow proper guidelines by installing a GPS tracking system and an emergency button in the cabs for the sake of their smooth operation.
By Ritam Talukdar
