Ggm: Unable to ply amid govt's push for e-autos, nine CNG, diesel auto unions say they will move high court

Piyush OhrieGurugram: Nine CNG/diesel auto unions, operating in Zone-4 of the Gurugram municipal corporation's jurisdiction, representing as many as 7,000 auto drivers, have now decided to move a plea in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the decision to ban their vehicles in a bid to push for electric autos in a particular area of Gurugram, if this order is not withdrawn.

"Our autos are being stopped from going beyond IFFCO chowk to Sikanderpur. On a daily basis, we make over Rs 400 to 500 but now we are not able to manage that. Haryana Government's flip flop policy and favouritism towards certain private players are resulting in our livelihoods being adversely affected," said Sanjay, one of the auto union representatives that operate autos from Gurugram bus stand to Sikanderpur.

He and representatives of the other eight unions have said they will now move the High Court against the decision if the government does not take it back.

The Gurugram district administration is now actively pursuing the introduction of a large number of electric auto-rickshaws on city roads, one plan for which envisions to induct 5,000 e-autos onto the city roads. Most of the auto unions however have expressed their displeasure as most of the drivers have recently purchased CNG autos and are not allowed to operate in certain areas of Gurugram.

Several auto drivers have shared grievances about how they had purchased CNG autos through a loan and how stopping them to operate would now add to their losses. The auto unions recently also held a protest and submitted a memorandum to the Gurugram DM. "All of a sudden the government cannot force us not to operate. They had first convinced us to move from diesel autos to CNG auto which we did. Now they cannot even allow CNG autos to not operate. A diesel auto can function upto 10 years and a CNG upto 15 years as per law then why are they changing the law all of a sudden and only allowing e-autos to operate in areas where we get most of our business," said Ramveer, one of the auto drivers who was part of the protest.

Recently, 600 e-autos were introduced in zone-4 area of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram. It is important to note that some of the poshest areas and commercial areas of Gurugram lie in this zone.

The unions that have decided to move court operate on routes such as Sikanderpur - Sector 56, Sikanderpur - Cyber Greens, Cyber greens - Udyog Vihar, Golf Course extesion - Sohna Road, HUDA city center - Sohna Road, Sector 56 to Sector 67, Udyog Vihar to Iffco Chowk, and IFFCO Chowk to Sector 44.