Man refuses to take Muslim driver's cab ride, Ola says it is secular

Ola issued a strong-worded statement saying that the company is a secular platform

Inciting communal sentiments to unfathomable levels, a man cancelled his Ola cab ride after he realised that the driver was a Muslim. As an act of casteist attitude, a verified Twitter user Abhishek Mishra, who apparently belongs to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, tweeted saying that he does not give to his money to “jihadi people”. He had attached a screenshot of his Ola cab booking which named the Ola Muslim driver.

His tweet sparked a communal conversation on the micro-blogging site and was condemned by a host of Twitter users including the likes of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Delhi Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee.

Many said it was an act of encouraging religious discrimination in the country, asking Ola to block such hate-mongering users.

In response to Abhishek Mishra’s anti-Muslim tweet, ride-hailing company Ola issued a strong-worded statement saying that “the company is a secular platform and it does not discriminate its driver partners or customers based on their caste, religion, gender or creed. We urge all our customers and driver partners to treat each other with respect at all times”.

As the criticism he was receiving on the social media and the reactions started to pour in, he again took to Twitter and tweeted the second message and defended his decision on the premise that he has the “right to choose”. He tweeted again asking people to endorse his views by retweeting.

"People starts an attack on me. Can I have no right to choose? If they can run a campaign against Hanuman ji poster on a cab, defamed Hindus and Hindus god in Kathua incident then they must be prepared for a reply," his Twitter post read. With this tweet, he justified his act by saying that Hindus and Hindu Gods were too defamed in the Kathua incident.

Many, who criticised Mishra, also advised him to stop buying fuel as it is imported from the Middle East and urged Ola to ban him from its platform.

Mishra, who claims to be a “Hindutva Thinker” on his Twitter handle, is followed by a score of Union ministers, including Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma. He has over 14,000 followers on Twitter.

Uber, Ola drivers hit by losses; on indefinite strike: Top 10 developments

Ola and Uber drivers allege their earnings are not enough for them to make ends meet

Do you use Ola and Uber for your daily commute? If yes, you may want to find other modes of transport as Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has called for an indefinite strike of drivers of cab aggregators Uber and Ola starting Monday midnight.

The strike, which will be observed in key cities like Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, aims to voice the drivers’ woes of not being able to cover rising costs due to falling business. They are currently being paid Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per month, according to media reports.

"Ola and Uber had given big assurances to the drivers, but today they are unable to cover their costs. They have invested Rs 500,000 to Rs 700,000 and were expecting to make Rs 150,000 a month. But drivers are unable to make even half of this because of the mismanagement by these companies," said Sanjay Naik of Maharashtra Navnirman Vahatuk Sena, reported news agency PTI.

Naik accused Ola and Uber of giving priority to company-owned cars rather than driver-owned ones, thereby, hitting their http://business.In Mumbai alone, there are over 45,000 Ola and Uber cabs but a slump in business has seen a drop of about 20 per cent in their numbers.

Meanwhile, the police has issued notices to leaders of the union under section 149 of CrPC relating to unlawful assembly.

ALSO READ: Ola spreads wings in Australia to build profit base, take on Uber in India

Here are the top 10 developments of the Ola and Uber strike:

1. Ola, Uber drivers’ strike starts at midnight: The transport wing of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has organised the indefinite strike of drivers of cab aggregators Uber and Ola starting midnight.

While taxi-hailing companies offered loan-guarantee letters to drivers through the Mudra scheme and that too without any verification, they are defaulting on repayment now as their costs are not covered, Naik claimed.

Other taxi unions, including the Mumbai Taximen's Union, have extended support.

2. Drivers claim Ola, Uber cheated them: Ola and Uber drivers said that while both the firms promised them an average monthly income between Rs 100,000 to Rs 150,000, the same was not the case. However, they initially believed them, and ended up buying cars on loans. Now that they are being underpaid, they have decided to go on a strike, said Swaraj Vahan Chalak Malak Sanghatna President Guru Katti, reported Times of India.

An average cost of a car varies between Rs 500,000 to 700,000.

ALSO READ: Uber, Ola go slow on electric mobility drive as charging infra a concern

3. Fuel hike adds to Ola, Uber drivers’ woes: Katti said a hike in the fuel prices have left drivers in distress with many being unable to pay their instalmentss and for the loans they took on their cabs, added the English daily.

4. Drop in per-km fare giving nightmares: Where the per-kilometre fare once to hover around Rs 10, the same has dropped to Rs 6 now due to the stiff competition between Ola and Uber. Moreover, Ola Share offers share pass varying on the distance one intends to travel. For instance, once can buy a pass for Rs 10 valid for 30 days, where one would be required to pay just Rs 30 for distance up to four kms and Rs 200 for distance up to 20 kms. Similarly, Uber offers slashes rates on its ‘POOL’ rides and often gives 50 per cent discount to users on Uber Go, which is the cheapest Uber car ride after share.

5. Ola giving preference to cars owned by them: Allegations have also been made that Ola is giving preferences to its own cars rather than the ones owned by drivers.

Highlighting one such incident, a driver said that even if a car owned by them is closer to a rider, the company will book for the rider the car that is owned by the company, according to media reports.

Now pay for fuel, LPG at Bharat Petroleum pumps using Ola Money

Driver partners and consumers will be able to pay for their fuel and LPG requirements with Ola Money

Breaking News : Ola Money, the digital payment solution from Ola, will be accepted at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) fuel pumps and LPG distributors across the country, the company announced on Monday.

Acceptance of Ola Money in a prominent public utility such as BPCL is another step by Ola towards supporting the government's vision of a cashless 'Digital India', Ola Money Senior Vice-President Pallav Singh said in a statement here.

With the increased recharge limit on wallets from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 until December 30, Ola Money is better positioned to facilitate convenient cashless transactions for citizens and merchants alike, the statement said.

With over 13,000 fuel stations and close to 4,500 LPG outlets, BPCL serves lakhs of people on a daily basis, it added. Read more.

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Bright new kid, but needs to do its homework

Back in the national capital, suddenly, we are all worried about cabs. Surge pricing notwithstanding, the odd-even rule has made sure we stop and take notice of cabs as an indispensible, omni-use public transport. There is also the diesel ban, the traffic mayhem, and of course the heat. The bottom line: We need a cab to get around. So the million-dollar question facing Delhiites is: How to beat the heat and surge pricing? Try Cabto.

Cabto is not unique. It is not complete. It is an ambitious app, and needless to say, it falters. It is taking on an older, more comprehensive, more established aggregator, Ixigo, which too provides surge comparisons. On the surface, it has brought nothing new to the plate. So what's the deal?

First, the interface: Plain, simple and very easy to use. Typing in keywords brings a drop down list of colourful places as option for both current location and destination, due to Cabto's alliance with Foursquare. The search is fast. Pick one and Cabto puts a list of all available nearby rides. Mega, Ola, Tabcab, Taxi for Sure, Uber - all the major players are here, and in the two weeks I used it, it added a couple more as well. So the list is growing.Read More.