The Bengal government has decided to allow app cabs within the jurisdiction of the police commissionerates of Calcutta, Howrah, Bidhannagar and Barrackpore with a set of riders.

App cabs will carry only passengers with a government e-pass. The cabs will not be allowed in containment zones, a transport department official said.

The date of commencement of services is still to be finalised but app cab aggregators will get the permission within a week, the official said.

The department has categorised passengers who can travel in app cabs:

• Frontline employees and service providers engaged in fighting the pandemic and running emergency services in government and private sector.
• Patients who have time-bound health check-up schedules and are undergoing treatment, including chemotherapy and dialysis or other similar treatment. One person can accompany the patient.
• Those engaged in providing essential services as defined in relevant government orders.

“Not more than two persons will be allowed in a cab and they will have to use the rear seat,” the official said. “No one will be allowed to sit beside the driver.”

A moveable transparent protective sheet will be placed between the driver and the passenger and particulars of the passenger will have to be made available to the government by the aggregators. Drivers and passengers have to wear masks, gloves and face shields. A driver has have to provide hand sanitiser to a passenger.

Several hundreds of app cab drivers hailed the decision but said they would wait for more clear orders from the companies.

“It is not clear what happens if a driver turns up and finds the passenger doesn’t have an e-pass. Who will cancel the trip… it is not possible for the driver to find out if the person booking a ride has a pass,” a driver from Hazra, who is on the Ola and Uber platforms, said.

The two companies didn’t respond to the government move.

“We had appealed to the chief secretary on Monday to resume app cab services in Calcutta,” Indranil Banerjee, convener of the West Bengal Online Cab Operators Guild, said. “There are certain grey areas that we would like to clear before resuming operations. But this is what we have been asking for.”