Ola and Uber drivers in Delhi aim to ‘gherao’ the house of Transport Minister Satyendra Jain

The stalemate between Ola and Uber and Sarvodaya Drivers Association in Delhi shows no signs of abating, with the latter now calling for a ‘gherao’ of the house of Transport Minister Satyendra Jain on Tuesday.

While commuters were able to book their rides on both Ola and Uber on Saturday, albeit at higher prices, and the Delhi High Court put up a stay order on stopping or blocking cars, removing devices, or in any manner obstructing or interfering with the legitimate business of the plaintiffs’ (cab aggregators) driver partners, the union is unrelenting.

The president of the union, Kamaljeet Gill, today told the Hindustan Times that their protest march would culminate at the residence of Transport Minister Satyendra Jain. All drivers will sit on dharna in front of his official residence at Civil Lines.

The aim is to draw the intervention of the minister. The drivers' demands include a 24×7 call centre, accident and health insurance, an increase in tariffs from the present Rs 6 per km, lesser targets, and higher incentives. There are also a few members still demonstrating at Jantar Mantar.

The stalemate has been going on for 11 days now.

While their fight with driver partners is temporarily stalled, Uber and Ola have another battle that is yet to be fought — the ban on Ola Share and uberPOOL by the Government of Karnataka. Currently, the aggregators and the government are on a cease-fire.

This is not the first time the cab aggregators have been caught in a jam. Since their launch, there have been regular run-ins with the Karnataka government. However, they are not the only ones to have been accused of ‘traffic violations’. Shuttle bus aggregator ZipGo had to shut down in 2015 after facing a similar situation.