Marathi mandate meeting today; cabbie unions wary

Getting ready for the Maharashtra Day (May 1) rollout for the Marathi language rule for auto and taxi drivers, state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik will chair a high-level meeting today (Thursday).

- Kalpesh Mhamunkar & Abhishek Pathak

The session _ involving domain experts and senior officials will focus on enforcement mechanisms and a structured roadmap to ensure nonMarathi commercial drivers — operating —_auto-rickshaws, taxis and app-based services like Ola and Uber - can communicate with passengers in the state language. This initiative is part of a renewed push to strengthen the use of Marathi in public services and ensure that the linguistic identity of the state is upheld across all transport sectors.

The Bhayandar RTO was the first to assess the Marathi language proficiency of drivers, where officials found many lacking the basic fluency required for daily passenger interaction. Based on these findings, the transport department decided to tighten enforcement while introducing structured training programmes to help drivers acquire Marathi skills.