CRIMES AGAINST CAB DRIVERS THREATEN OUR MOBILITY

STEP TREATMENT

- 

ALMOST every week we get to read a headline about a cab driver assaulted on a deserted stretch, a body found near a highway, a cab hijacked after a late-night pickup. The tragedy is not only the violence itself, but the complete absence of awareness about it.

For the city that depends on these cab drivers, their suffering is background noise.

One realised how deep this malady is while taking a cab last week. I had a 21-year-old as my chauffeur for a sparkly new sedan. During the course of the journey, one realised that at the beginning of the travel, the cabbie had received a call if he was comfortable with his pick. During the course of the journey too, he received a call if all was fine.

One decided to check with him, why he was getting these calls. He replied that his family has pawned farmland to buy him this vehicle for livelihood. They were against it initially as this trade has now come to be perceived as dangerous. But since there were not many options available they decided to buy him a vehicle but keep monitoring him.