The Kerala government is gearing up to come up with a different alternative to the popular corporate online cabs by launching its own e-taxi service next month onwards, the first initiative by any state government in India. 

The online taxi will be called ‘Kerala Service’ which will be under the state Labour Department, which will work on linking the existing auto-taxi networks in the state aiming to ensure safe and dispute-free travel for the public at affordable prices all over the state. 

Minister for Education Labour and Skill Development V. Sivankutty said when addressing a press meeting that the unique service was also envisaged as a helping hand to the auto-taxi labour sector, which is facing several challenges nowadays. The new service would be launched at a function to be held at Kanakakkunnu Palace in Thiruvananthapuram on the beginning day of the auspicious Malayalam month of Chingam, on August 17.

 Sivankutty said, "This is for the first time that a state government is launching an online taxi service in the country. It is perhaps the first such system in the government sector in the world itself... A completely safe and dispute-free trip is the promise given by the Kerala Safari,"

"It is in this circumstance that the labour department has decided to launch an online taxi service in the government sector realising that there is a need to change the motor transport worker sector according to the needs of the time," the minister said.

The Kerala Motor Transport Workers' Welfare Fund Board is the implementation agency, which would act with the support of the departments like Legal Metrology, Transport, IT, and Police.

He further added, "It has been decided to implement the scheme across the state. At present, as many as 500 auto-taxi drivers in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation limit are members of the scheme. Officials of various departments have imparted training to them in various subjects," 

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