The Karnataka government has ordered taxi aggregators Ola and Uber to halt their autorickshaw services in the state immediately since enforcement would start on Monday. Ola, Uber, and other cab aggregators received a notice from the state government last week for operating autorickshaws unlawfully and overcharging clients, in violation of the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators Rule 2016.

The warning of harsh action has been given since, notwithstanding the notice, the cab aggregators have not demonstrated any sign of complying with the government decision. "We had given them three days to stop their services. We also had asked them in our notice to furnish details if they have any for us in this duration. They have not responded yet. So, the enforcement will start from tomorrow," a senior transport department official told PTI.

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These cab aggregators nonetheless ran their auto-rickshaws on Sunday and charged excessive rates compared to the regular, meter-based rates. Manjunath, an autorickshaw driver who works for a cab aggregator company, told PTI that he would want to see the government take some sort of action. "We had seen a similar notice served to the cab aggregators just before the elections but no action was taken again. Now once again when the assembly elections are nearing, a similar notice has been served. I want to see the government taking action," he said.

Many passengers have complained about the overcharging by the autorickshaws operating through apps like Ola and Uber, prompting the action. The companies had three days to provide any information on the autorickshaw services they were providing to the transportation authorities.

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