37 auto men, union office-bearers arrested for illegal road blockade in Pune

Last updated Dec 15, 2022

Pune : NpNews24 Online – Pune Auto Rickshaw Strike | Autorickshaw drivers have been protesting against the two-wheeler taxi service. The ‘Baghtoy Rikshawala’ union in Pune had called an indefinite strike on November 28 to demand shutting the two-wheeler taxis. Other autorickshaw unions had announced their support for this bandh. The ‘Baghtoy Rikshawala’ again staged an agitation on December 12, which was declared illegal by the police.

Now 37 autorickshaw drivers and office-bearers who participated in the blockade have been arrested by filing an FIR at the Bund Garden Police Station.

According to the details given by the Pune Police, the ‘Anti-Bike Taxi Movement Committee’ had called a strike on December 12 to stop the Rapido Bike Taxi.

To prevent this protest from happening, Dr. Keshav Kshirsagar from ‘Baghtoy Rikshawala’, Anand Ankush from Aam Aadmi Rickshaw Drivers Association, Sanjay Kawade of Pune District Transport Services Association, Ashok Salekar of Shivneri Rickshaw Association, Kishore Chintamani of Maharashtra Navnirman Transport Sena, Aziz Shaikh of RPI Transport Alliance, Farooq Bagwale of P Ashirwad Rickshaw Association, Baba Syed of AIMIM Rickshaw Association. , Shiva Bhoganali of Shiva Transport Association and other rickshaw association officials and also Circle-2 Deputy Commissioner of Police Smartana Patil, Assistant Commissioner of Police R N Raje, Senior Police Inspector Pratap Mankar, Bund Garden Police station’s Police Inspector Crime Ashwini Satpute held a meeting.

Responding positively to the call made by the police, Baba Kamble of Maharashtra Rickshaw Panchayat did not participate in the protest. However, as the other office-bearers persisted in the agitation, they have been issued a notice under sections 149 of the CrPC.

A committee headed by Pune Collector to decide on the demands of auto men has been established. Therefore, the collector had appealed not to protest. But since the two-wheeler taxi app was not removed, the rickshaw unions protested at RTO Chowk on December 12.

Joint Commissioner of Police Sandeep Karnik said that action is being taken against this two-wheeler taxi. But the rickshaw pullers’ associations stuck to their decision and stayed at RTO Chowk near Sangam Bridge. The traffic in the square was blocked by the protest.

Rickshaw drivers parked their rickshaws on the main road and blocked the road for traveling to school students, government office workers and officers. By pelting stones at passers-by, they created terror. When the officers posted on security tried to smoothen the traffic, they ran over them and created an obstacle in the government work.

Therefore, in the case of deliberate disregard of instructions of not to agitate, 37 auto men and officials have been arrested by filing a case under IPC 143, 145, 147, 149, 353, 336, 342, 177 Criminal Law Amendment 3, 7, as well as the Maharashtra Police Act in Bund Garden Police Station and the search for the other accused is going on.

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