Cab-goers in and around the city may face trouble in booking rides on Monday as the Chandigarh Tricity Driver Union and Jai Durga Auto-rickshaw Welfare Association, a 2,000-strong union, has announced a plan to gherao the Punjab chief minister and governor’s residence amid their ongoing indefinite strike.The UT had notified the Chandigarh aggregator policy on June 24, 2025, and the fare rates on July 7, 2025. (HT File)The union members, who have been protesting at the Sector-25 rally ground since June 1 over UT’s “failure to implement” the aggregator policy and fare rates notified last year, say they will march to the Punjab CM house in Sector 2 and Lok Bhavan in Sector 6 around 10 am, and surrender their vehicle keys as a mark of protest.The UT had notified the Chandigarh aggregator policy on June 24, 2025, and the fare rates on July 7, 2025. The aggregator policy, apart from laying down various guidelines for driver verification, onboarding, insurance, etc, states that aggregator companies can charge only up to 20% of the total ride fare as commission. Drivers allege that the firms continue to charge around 30%.Further, the fare structure notified by the UT prescribes a flat fare of ₹90 for the first three kilometres and ₹25 per kilometre thereafter. The union, however, claims that these rates are not being followed by aggregator companies.They state that after paying for diesel or CNG, vehicle servicing, taxes, commission and loan installments (for their vehicles), their take-home income is very low.Amandeep Singh, president of the union, says that after the UT notified the aggregator policy, some companies found a work-around. Instead of charging commission against every ride, the companies started charging a daily subscription fee of ₹200. “This is automatically deducted from the driver’s wallet irrespective of whether they receive any rides,” he said.Among other demands, the union is seeking a revision of fare rates for 2026, citing an increase of around ₹9 per kilogram in CNG prices, discontinuation of subscription and pass systems, mandatory driver training, medical check-up camps, medical and term insurance, and a ban on attaching non-commercial vehicles to aggregator platforms.The protest comes weeks after the UT administration suspended the aggregator licence of ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, which operates Ola, for six months on June 17, citing repeated violations of regulatory norms and non-compliance with official directions.Singh says other companies, too, are violating the norms but no action is being taken against them.Responding to the union’s allegations, state transport authority secretary Nitish Singla said, “We are already taking action against the defaulters and will continue to do so.”