Maharashtra Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik caught a Rapido bike operating illegally on Wednesday, NDTV Marathi reported. The bike taxi was accepting passengers and transporting them without authorisation.
The state government is yet to grant official permission to any app-based bike aggregator to operate in Maharashtra. The government has recently announced an e-bike policy, which will allow only institutions with electric bikes to obtain bike taxi permits in the future. The institutions will also have to meet various conditions to obtain the permit.
As a result, all existing bike taxis are currently unauthorised.
When Sarnaik asked the transport department about unauthorised bike taxi apps in Mumbai or other cities, he received a response stating that none existed. To verify this information, the minister booked a bike through the Rapid Bike app under a pseudonym. Within 10 minutes, the bike arrived at the Babu Genu Chowk to pick him up.
Minister Pratap Sarnaik offered to pay the bike driver Rs 500 as fare. He said, "We won't gain anything by filing a case against poor people like you. But those big people behind this should be punished. That's our intention."
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