Malayalam playback singer Sayanora Philip had to face the ire of a group of unruly autorickshaw and taxi drivers early morning Friday, who tried to stop her from taking an Uber cab from the Ernakulam Town station (Ernakulam North). The Manohari (Baahubali: The Beginning) singer said on a social media live broadcast soon after that she was traveling alone and was “terrified” by the incident.
The incident comes barely a couple of weeks after city-based fashion designer Vidya Gopalakrishnan faced a similar protest from auto drivers and broadcast it live on social media. That incident took place at the Eranakulam South station. At that time the Indian Railways had clarified that there is no ban on app-based taxi services at any of its stations.
But the repeat incident shows unionized auto and taxi drivers are not bothered about even the safety of women in their illegal attempts to protect their turfs and business from cab-hailing apps.
Sayanora, who reached Ernakulam North from Kannur in the Malabar Express at 3.30 am Friday, recounted her “horrifying experience” at the station as the auto drivers prevented her from taking the Uber cab.
The singer did an FB Live as early as 4.30 am to share her experience. In the video, Sayanora said the auto drivers paid scant regard to the safety concerns of a woman traveling alone early morning.
Uber to launch car pooling services in Kochi next year
"The taxi drivers outside the station used to charge me Rs 500 to drop me at my house in Panampilly Nagar,” she said in the video. “They never used to reduce the rate ... This time I tried Uber and to my luck I got one taxi in the vicinity."
"When I tried to get into the cab, a group of taxi and auto drivers came shouting at the Uber driver asking him 'how dare he enter the station'. They opened the door and held the driver by his collar and threatened him to end the ride and go out (of the station premises)."
“They told me to go outside the station if I wanted to hire a Uber taxi.”
She, however, held her ground and said that she is a woman and won't go outside the station to hire a taxi in the early hours.
"I have traveled to many places, that too alone and have engaged similar taxi services in all those places, but nowhere else I had to face such a problem," she said.
"Only because I shouted back at the hostile group, they let the Uber driver and me out of there. I am not a person who travels only in Uber or such services, but I am coming Live today because of the horrifying experience I had to face. I was terrified," Sayonara said.
Sayanora concluded her Live broadcast with an appeal to the authorities to address the problem immediately.
