Taxis go off the road in memory of CPRF men

Dehradun: A day after the entire city came on roads mourning the death of 44 CRPF men killed in Pulwama attack on Thursday, the Taxi-Maxi cabs across Garhwal region stopped their services on Sunday to pay homage to the personnel.
According to estimates, more than three lakh people travel every day in around 22 thousand taxis. Head, Doon Garhwal taxi association, Pramod Nautiyal told TOI that all the taxi services across seven districts of Garhwal did not do any business to pay their respect to the CRPF men.“They died defending us. We urge our government to punish those who attacked our men inside our own country,” he said. The union members also shouted slogans against Pakistan and held a condolence meeting.
These taxi-maxis cabs are called the lifeline of the state especially in the hills where they act as the only source of last mile connectivity as well as the only measure to take people to the urban areas. Though the roadways buses ferry regularly but they are very less in number and villagers largely rely on private jeeps.
“Our village in Tehri district has no bus service so we rely on private vehicles to ply between our village and the market. However, with the taxi drivers on strike, it is hard for us to reach the town except for private vehicles which not many people in the village have,” said resident of Tehri Garhwal district, Shankar Negi.
The situation in Doon, however largely remained unaffected as online taxi services were still available.
The Taxi-Maxi cabs not just ferry people but even deliver food items, fruits, milk and vegetables to the hills. The local traders in hilly areas faced goods crisis especially bread, eggs and milk which gets supplied on everyday basis.
Sunil Rawat, who owns a makeshift grocery shop near Rishikesh and mostly relies on everyday supply of goods, said that 90 per cent of sales dropped as breads and milk couldn’t reach.
“I only sell Maggi, bread, tea, milk and eggs. I had to keep my shop closed on Sunday as nothing was available,” he added.