By Firoz.T.Totanawala
The Bangalore Metro Reporter
BEHIND THE WHEEL OF KSTDC!
NEELAKANTAPPA DRIVES KSTDC TAXI SERVICES AT BIAL.
The KSTDC Taxi services at Bangalore International Airport has become the personal fiefdom of one Neelakantappa who is the Supervisor and the General Secretary of the KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association. A mere employee outsourced from an agency by the KSTDC, Neelakantappa is the boss here. The Taxi Drivers/Owners Operating through KSTDC are always at his mercy and the Taxi Drivers Welfare Association has become the hen that lays golden eggs to Neelakantappa. As far as the Association is concerned, it has become Neelakantappa’s private property...
The Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation is making a big kill from its Taxi services in BIAL. It has procured parking and operating license from the BIAL and being a government undertaking, it has an edge over the other two operators - Easy cabs and Meru Cabs. The Easy Cab and Meru Cabs own the fleet of cars which are leased to the drivers who pay a little over Rs.1000 per day to the operators. These operators have their own way in providing a sort of minimum earnings to the drivers like a minimum of two or three trips and they have invested hundreds of crores as it is a business for them.
OUTSOURCING AT BEST!
But this is not the case with KSTDC. It does not have a single taxi. It is the Taxi Owners who have to get them registered with the corporation to run the taxis under corporation banner. One has to pay Rs. 30,000/- to the KSTDC as registration fee and security and as on now, the corporation has over 550 Taxis. After the taxi owner registers with KSTDC, he must enroll with the Airport KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association to be able to start his taxi service. And the membership fee to this association is mind boggling. It is just over Rs. 16,000/-. Then, each taxi owner must pay Rs.7500/- per month as parking charges and about Rs. 2000/- towards the call centre fee! Further, the taxi owner has to spend towards GPRS systems, Receipt Printer, stickering etc. Totally, a taxi owner has to spend almost a lakh before he starts running the taxi.
COME TO ME FIRST!
It is not easy to get the membership of the Association. Only after Neelakantappa, who interestingly is the supervisor in the KSTDC counter and taxi service, assures membership, one can go ahead purchasing the car and undertake other formalities. Neelakantappa is not an employee of KSTDC and despite of KSTDC having some efficient employees, the supervision of the taxi services is entrusted to him, who is minting millions in Taxi services as well in Association. The cab drivers are literally at his mercy. For registration, one has to approach Neelakantappa through a member close to him. Once this major hurdle is cleared, it will be Neelakantappa’s show all the way. The cab driver will come under the octopus like grip of Neelakantappa and there is no escape route but to follow all his orders without question.
THE NEXUS!
Interestingly, only Logan car is allowed and it should be purchased from a particular dealer who allegedly has ‘kick back’ relationship with Neelakantappa. Even if other car dealers offer more discounts etc. one cannot purchase the car else he must forget getting KSTDC registration. Then every registered taxi has to exhibit the KSTDC Logo and Telephone numbers of the call centre on the car. Here too, the stickering must be done from a particular shop which charges Rs. 500/-, while it would not cost more than Rs.100-150 in other shops. But, Neelakantappa does not allow the taxi owners to get the stickering done elsewhere and even if they do, he asks them to remove and rework the same at the designated shop! Even the installation of Taxi meters and GPRS have to be done from the designated venues. All these come with a high price tag and there is no alternative. The KSTDC officials who are duty bound to protect the interests of the cab drivers and of KSTDC are hand-in-glove with Neelakantappa. They have given a free hand to Neelakantappa and allegedly the officials who matter are given a ‘cut’ in the booty in addition to various favours from Neelakantappa.
HIGH HOPES!
After going through all these hurdles, one expects the cab drivers operating under KSTDC (after registering with the KSTDC) to earn a respectable amount. The cab driver has to queue up before the counter established at the airport and pick up their customers. While returning, they can pick up passengers if the KSTDC call centre passes on the information. Once back at Airport, they have to follow the queue system in the KSTDC parking area.
A cab driver can make a minimum of two or three trips everyday and earn around Rs. 2 to 3 thousand. Considering the expenses towards parking, call centre, cab maintenance, EMI payment of car loan etc, one expects that a cab driver can earn at least 15 to 20 thousand a month! To earn more, he has to run 24x7 which is very dangerous to his health and safety of the customers too. That is why some cab drivers have employed drivers to make more and more trips.
But the hard reality is that the cab drivers cannot expect to work as much they needed. It is because of the involvement of KSTDC Taxi Drivers Welfare Association floated by Neelakantappa. Nobody objects to the cab drivers forming an Association to get their grievances redressed. But here, the Association itself has become a biggest problem for the cab drivers who are enrolled as Members. And the cab drivers are helpless and suffer all sorts of humiliations, insults, loss of business etc. at the hands of the Association head Neelakantappa.
FOR THE NAME SAKE!
The call centre operated by an agency associated with a senior KSTDC official is only for name sake. It does not provide pick up service to the majority of cab drivers, despite charging Rs.65 per day from them. Here too Neelakantappa rules the roost. It seems that he has a share in the ‘returns’. Only the vehicles deployed in his kith and kins names gets maximum business from this call centre. For all practical purposes the call centre of KSTDC is as good as dead. But still, the cab drivers are made to pay Rs.2000 per month towards the call centre. Interestingly, this call centre which collects more than 10 lakhs per month does not provide ‘pick up’ ‘drop’ business to the cab drivers worth this amount in any given month! As the call centre is a must for getting Taxi service license from the BIAL, the KSTDC has established it only for formality sake and not for bonafide use of the cab drivers. Curiously, many private travel operators who claim to have obtained permission from the KSTDC are providing ‘pick up’ business to the cab drivers who pay Rs.100 per trip to these operators. Very recently, the call centre contract was given to another agency.
The hold of Neelakantappa over the KSTDC Taxi service, Welfare Association and the call centre is total. No cab driver can dare to cross the line drawn by him but at their risk and peril. Neelakantappa’s word is the law here. For example, even though KSTDC levies the parking charges at Rs.250 per day, Neelakantappa has decreed that the parking fee for the whole month should be paid in advance and the same is the case with the call centre. Eventually, a cab driver has to pay about Rs. 10,000 in one go before the start of the month.
And what is the benefit or the services the cab driver gets in return? The call centre does not provide even a couple of trips in a month. It is monopolised by few of Neelakantappa’s chelas who get a couple of trips every day. In one particular case, a cab owned by one Ratnamma gets 3 to 4 trips everyday from the call centre! In fact, if a cab driver delays payment of advance monthly parking fee, Neelakantappa levies a penalty at the rate of Rs.100 per day of delay. And there is no receipt for this penalty amount! One can easily imagine where does this fine money go?
WHAT IS THE LAW?
Talking about the association, the association’s letterhead shows that Prabhakara Reddy, a former MLA in the seventies is the President and General Secretary of the association is Neelakantappa. With Prabhakara Reddy being a sleeping President, it is Neelakantappa who calls the shots. He makes and unmakes other office bearers and EC members, without caring for the byelaws or rules governing such associations. There is no general body meeting or even the EC meetings. There is no auditing of accounts for the last three years. Interestingly, nobody knows whether the same is registered under Societies Act or Trade Union Act. Not even the registration number is mentioned in Letterheads or correspondences. As for huge money that is being collected from the members, nobody knows where the money is, if it is still there! Nobody knows the receipt and expenses of the Association.
In fact, Neelakantappa has hired a room in the Madhuvan Hotel opposite to Minto Hospital and he operates from this room. The Association does not have an address except the residential address of Neelakantappa. It is a one man show and he has taken sufficient care to pack the office bearers and EC membership from taxi drivers loyal to him. These loyalists are given huge business at the BIAL over and above the other taxi drivers who have to wait for hours to get a trip. Moreover, Neelakantappa has his own taxies and they will be given maximum possible ‘trips’ and even pick customers from the counter itself.
THAT IS ALL!
As such, Neelakantappa is an outsourced employee in KSTDC, leader of the KSTDC Taxi Drivers Association and the man-in-charge of KSTDC Taxi Operations in BIAL! He is only working on temporary basis for the last so many years. Nobody can come across any such peculiar arrangements anywhere in public undertakings. And KSTDC has created a record for having a ‘superman’ to run its taxi service and also control the Taxi owners/drivers.
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