Hyderabad: In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer, the Telangana Gig Platform Workers’ Union (TGPWU) lodged a complaint that their drivers whose vehicles were hired for election duty are being charged Rs 150- Rs 200 per day as commission by middlemen.
“As per G.O.Ms.No. 166 dated 04.11.2023, vehicle 6 and 7 seater motor cabs are supposed to receive rupees 1430 in hire charges and rupees 520 as batta charges (a total of rupees 1950). After paying commission, drivers are only receiving approximately rupees 1750. Thousands of drivers are on election duty, and facing this problem,” the letter said.
“Dear @CEO_Telangana We request you to kindly look into the matter, and transfer the money directly into the drivers’ accounts after necessary verification of documents. It is also requested that the payments be made only to commercial taxis, as some officials are also claiming,” wrote the association on X (formerly Twitter).
The letter informed the hardships caused by the drivers. “Our drivers have left other engagements, working round the clock, forgoing attractive packages. Yet, they are not getting full pay due to the presence of middlemen,” TGPWU said.
TGPWU has appealed to remove the middlemen and pay the drivers directly. “It is also requested that the payments be made only to commercial taxis, as some officials are also claiming these charges using their non-commercial (white plate) vehicles,” TGPWU said.
The same union in the past has also spearheaded the ‘No AC’ campaign. The ‘No AC campaign’ was launched in the city on April 8 to draw the attention to the declining per-km fares of aggregator apps such as Ola, Uber, and Rapido, city-based Gig and Platform Workers Union (TGPWU).
