Updated story (June 14, 2018): The centre will meet taxi aggregators Ola and Uber to possibly introduce "exclusive women pooling" to women passengers, just a few days after a driver in Bangalore molested and threatened a female passenger with rape, reports The Hindustan Times. The Union road transport and highways ministry will call a meeting of cab aggregators soon to put forth the idea, as per the report. The idea was mooted by Union women and child (WCD) minister Maneka Gandhi last week. However, the issue was not discussed at a meeting between road and WCD ministries officials which was also attended by representatives from Ola and Uber, according to the above report. Uber has said it is committed to safety of women passengers, while Ola has asked for time to respond to this development. Original story (June 12, 2018): Following another case of molestation and threat to rape by an Ola driver, the Women and Child Development ministry has called for a meeting with cab aggregators, reported The Economic Times. The ministry will seek to make the companies more accountable for jeopardizing the safety of women. The meeting will be chaired by WCD minister Maneka Gandhi, who will press the companies on thorough background checks and ensuring that the child-lock feature remains disallowed. (A rear door child lock on some cars prevents them from being opened from inside by the passenger. This was designed as a safety feature by car makers but is being abused by cab drivers.) In…
