Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has issued a set of guidelines to regulate the hail-riding companies operating in the state with maximum emphasis on the safety of passengers, especially women.
According to the guidelines, online cab companies will not be allowed to operate in the state without a valid license. In addition, they need to provide the state Transport department with detailed information about the drivers. It is also mandatory for the hail riding companies to operate 24×7 call centers to address the grievances of the passengers.
Henceforth, all online cab companies operating in Odisha, such as Ola, Uber, and Odicab will be under the scanner of the government. The app-based vehicles will have to be registered with the State Transport Authority (STA) for granting of the license.
The Odisha Transportation Department has issued a notification, Odisha On-Demand Transportation Aggregators Guidelines, in this regard. Incidentally, Odisha is the sixth state in the country to bring such guidelines.
According to the guidelines, the online aggregators will need to submit a security amount of Rs 1 lakh to STA for operating around 1,000 cabs and bikes. Similarly, Rs 10 lakh needs to be deposited for running 10,000 vehicles. Their licenses will be renewed once every five years for Rs 25,000. Details about the drivers will have to be displayed in the cabs and two-wheelers running operated by the aggregator. Moreover, they will have to write ‘TAXI’ on yellow boards on every car and bike.
STA Joint Commissioner Dipti Ranjan Patra said that the guidelines have been notified keeping in view the security of the passengers.
“The grievance redressal method of passengers and the kind of drivers who are running the vehicles have been clearly mentioned in the guidelines. The safety and security of the passengers have been given top priority. Keeping all these things in mind, Odisha has notified the guidelines as the sixth state in the country,” said Patra.
