Mumbai to finally get new taxi stand signboards

On April 3, MiD DAY reported that taxi drivers plan to approach commuters, begging for donations so that they can reinstall their missing stand signboards, which they claim the government had refused to pay for (‘Cabbies want you to pay for taxi stands').

A taxi waits at a stand outside CST in Mumbai. More than 1,200 taxi stand signboards have been stolen and the authorities failed to re-install them. File pic

At an emergency meeting between the Regional Transport Office (RTOs), the municipal corporation and the taxi unions last afternoon, the authorities agreed to set up parking stand signboards for taxis, mainly in the island city. "We will be setting up taxi stands and money is being allotted for the same," said MB Jadhav, RTO officer, Tardeo RTO.

Areas such as Churchgate, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Worli, Dadar, among other important locations that have proximity to offices will see the new signboards within a month's time. Sources said that the RTO would be inspecting these sites soon while the BMC will be responsible for setting up taxi stands. "These stands are expected to be in place within a month's time," said A Quadros, Mumbai Taximen's Union. "We have now deferred our protest of begging for money to May 10," he added.

The taxi union claims that the issue of missing taxi stand signboards has been pending for a long time and about 1,200 of them were found missing. The cost of each taxi stand signboard is about Rs 3,000. Sources in the RTO said that they had already made plans to erect signboards and that the taxi unions are unnecessarily making a mountain out of a molehill. After the initial 240 sites are taken care of, around 1,000 taxi stands will remain. "We will be inspecting the rest of the sites that the taxi unions have mentioned," said an RTO official.