Mumbai:
Uber General Manager Sailesh Sawlani was today attacked by a member of the Swabhimani Sanghtana outside the Maharashtra Transport Commissioner's office in Mumbai. Mr Sawlani was not harmed as the traffic police personnel intervened in time.
No formal police complaint has been lodged about the attack. Swabhiman Sanghatana is led by Congress MLA Nitesh Rane.
Mr Sawlani had come to the Transport Commissioner Mahesh Zagade's office to attend a meeting of all taxi service providers, including those who run web-based applications for hiring taxis in the city.
"The Commissioner addressed every operator regarding safety concerns. We have taken his points into consideration and this is a tragic incident. We've been looking out for all possible aspects of our operations. So please bear with me, I am not in the position to comment right now," he said after the meeting.
When asked what safety measures Uber takes, Mr Sawlani added, "We have commercially registered drivers and vehicles. We are just an aggregator wherein we are giving our source of income to these drivers."
Representatives from Meru, Uber, Tab Cabs, Easy Cabs, Ola Cabs and Cabzo were present at the meeting to formulate and regularize norms for background checks of drivers after an Uber driver allegedly raped a 27-year-old woman in Delhi last week.
The meeting went on for over an hour. Representatives from Meru and Tab Cabs told the commissioner that they already had very stringent procedures in place and spend a considerable amount of money on background checks of drivers. They added that operators of web-based applications that provide taxi services should be made to follow these procedures as well.
The commissioner has also asked operators to submit their drivers' database by Thursday afternoon. Operators have also been asked to submit their improved plans by December 15 so that the news systems can be put in place by mid-January.
"Some of the operators showed me their systems but I wasn't very happy with their background check provisions that are existing. So I have given them time up to until this weekend to come up with new provisions," said Mr Zagade.