By Huma Siddiqui

It is so convenient, just pick up the phone and call a taxi from your local taxi stand, reach the destination, pay off and move. But have we ever looked back at the driver, smiled at him or spared a thought for him?

Inderjeet Singh, a young taxi driver of Punjab Taxi Stand, near Mandi House, New Delhi, is bitter. “I was forced to become a driver. My father had left behind several DLYs and DLTs (black and white and yellow cabs respectively). Our relatives were anxious to take those away. It was then my mother let my elder brother become a driver, who started squandering whatever was left behind. She then decided that I should become a driver.”

The problems faced as a driver are not amusing, he says. “Look at the recent licensing procedures introduced by the government. They are asking us to phase out vehicles which are 10 years old, without giving us any support or subsidy. Earlier they had announced 15 years, so we were fine, suddenly they have got it down to 10.”

He adds: “Look at it this way: When you buy a vehicle, it may not always be cash down. By the time you pay off the installments, five years are over, and by the time you try recovering your investment, 10 years are over and your vehicle gets phased out.”

Taxi drivers, unfortunately, have no fixed hours for work. They may be flexible, but at times that too creates problems. You are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Inderjeet, who started driving in 1992, says: “Even when I am unwell, at times I have to go. It is the question of money. People think that we are very rich just because we have our own taxi. Think of those who drive on lease. At times, they keep sitting the whole day and they get no customer, yet at the end of the day, they have to pay the stand owner a sum of Rs250 (US$6) for a diesel vehicle per day.”

He adds: “At times, one can earn up to Rs400-500 in a day. But then there are lean periods too. Summer vacations are the worst time for the taxi drivers, Inderjeet adds. The best times are July to February.”

As if this is not enough, the drivers have absolutely no personal security. “When someone calls up the stand, we just have to go. There is no way to check, whether we are helping criminals run after a crime.”

For personal insurance there is hardly any money to invest. “One can earn around Rs5,000 a month. Out of which, one gives up Rs1,875 for vehicle insurance, Rs5,000 for a local permit for a period of three years, Rs650 for road tax, then one hardly has enough to put in for his personal insurance,” says Inderjeet. Social security is simply out of question.

Time and again this issue was raised when the trade unions were very strong, but nothing emerged out of the discussions. Now, says Inderjeet, though he is in the Panchkuian Road Union, there is not much they can do for us. There are four unions around the city:

• Malkaganj Union
• Railway Taxi Union
• Airport Taxi Union, and
• Panchkuian Road Union.

“When there is a call for a strike, we accept it without any arguments.”

There are major problems for those taxi drivers who cater to airport customers. They are not allowed to park with the rest of the taxis there, as their union is very strong. No outsider is allowed to take a number. This is the reason, that when one hires a taxi for either the airport or the railway station, they are always charged almost double.

According to Inderjeet (whose home is near the stand), the drivers are not sure when they may be called out. “We have to sleep under the open skies, in heavy rains, because in this country there are no set rules which would force the stand owners to provide the basic amenities to the drivers. No one is concerned with our welfare.”

Why are people wary of taxi drivers? “Well, there are bad fish in every pond. Especially those drivers at the railway station and the airport are to be blamed for bringing us a bad name. It is unfortunate that nothing can be done about them, because it is the system that is to blame.”

Huma Siddiqui is a Senior Correspondent for The Financial Express in New Delhi.