Autorickshaw permits only to Marathi-speaking people in Mumbai: Maharashtra govt

The transport minister of the state, said that the decision has been taken as the population has increased since then. Maharashtra Transport Minister, Diwakar Raote issued a circular mentioning the newest development. We will ensure that the applicant of a permit has been a resident in the region for 15 years, with proper proof of domicile, an Aadhaar card, electricity bill and so on.

According to reports, applicants of the auto license will also have to undergo a Marathi test. The granting of license would be subject to passing the test.

With 1,40,000 permits to be issued in the coming months and a chunk of auto rickshaw and taxi drivers in the city being migrants, many are seeing this move an extension of the “sons of the soil” policy.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra government triggered a fresh controversy by announcing that new autorickshaw permits in Mumbai will now be issued to only those who can speak Marathi which is official language of Maharashtra. Now for the MMR region 1 lakh and for few other cities such as Solapur, Aurangabad, Nashik, Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad around 7,500 permits will be issued.

Sources in the government, however, said the state is just implementing the law.

The previous Congress-NCP government never made Marathi mandatory for such permits. According to IndiaTV, after the BJP came to power in Maharashtra last year, the Devendra Fadnavis government conducted a survey and found that around 70 percent of auto drivers in the state are non-Marathis. “We will not tolerate such divisive politics on language, caste and creed”. The fees to renew permits will be Rs 20,000 for MMR and Rs 15,000 for the rest of the state.