The Delhi Auto Rickshaw Sangh began a protest at Jantar Mantar on Monday, 17 August 2026, to demand the setting up of a welfare board for auto and taxi drivers and to raise a set of transport-linked grievances. The union, which operates under the umbrella of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, said it was launching the agitation against both the central and state governments.
“I appeal to all auto-taxi drivers to reach Jantar Mantar tomorrow and present their demands to the government. Our demand is that the Delhi government should immediately constitute the ‘Auto-Taxi Drivers’ Welfare Board’ and withdraw the increased vehicle fitness fees immediately,” Rajendra Soni, general secretary of the Delhi Auto Rickshaw Sangh, said on Sunday ahead of the protest.
Alongside the welfare board and the rollback of the fitness fee hike, the union set out further demands, including working time limits for drivers, accountability for officials of the Delhi transport department and an immediate ban on bike taxis running with private number plates.
The fitness fee grievance traces to a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on 11 November 2025, which sharply revised fitness test fees for older vehicles. Under the revised structure, higher fee slabs begin at 10 years for commercial vehicles, grouped into three brackets of 10 to 15 years, 15 to 20 years and above 20 years.
For light motor vehicles older than 20 years, the fitness test fee rose to ₹15,000 from ₹10,000, while the fee for heavy trucks and buses in that age group was raised to ₹25,000 from ₹3,500.
