Gig strike call from Aug 8
Hyderabad’s app-based drivers say they’ll go indefinite from Saturday if fares, minimums and welfare rules aren’t fixed. The BJP-led Centre wrote Codes, the Congress loves photo-ops — neither set a meter that pays. Telangana passed a welfare Bill; workers want it implemented, not framed.
Gig workers are seeking notified fares and implementation of Telangana’s welfare framework.
Several unions in Hyderabad have threatened an indefinite strike from Saturday, August 8, if their demands remain unmet, according to a report on August 6 from a Telangana App‑Based Drivers Forum (TADF) meeting in Musheerabad. The call covers app‑based transport and delivery, and could extend across Telangana if it holds. The unions want a government‑notified base fare, per‑km and per‑minute rates, sustainable earnings, a welfare board, notification of gig‑worker rules, implementation of the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, 2025, and a curb on private cars doing commercial runs without proper registration. The TADF committee said any disruption “across Telangana will be the direct responsibility of the Government and platform companies” for failing to protect the livelihoods and rights of lakhs of workers — a number they did not document.
This is not a new tantrum. On July 22, the same network staged a statewide “Breakdown Flash Strike” and warned an indefinite one would follow after August 8 if nothing moved. TGPWU’s Shaik Salauddin apologised to commuters then and said workers had been left with “no other option” — the part of the story every party in Delhi nods through until a camera needs a slogan.
The context in Telangana: the Assembly passed a Platform‑Based Gig Workers Registration, Social Security and Welfare Bill on March 30, and the state has brought parts of the sector under minimum‑wage coverage via G.O. Ms. No. 6 from June 1, covering e‑commerce, courier and LPG distribution. Workers now want the promised framework made real — rules notified, welfare board functioning, and actual fare floors that stop a 12‑hour shift from netting bus‑ticket money. The report does not yet establish the strike’s exact start time, which platforms will down tools, or whether participation is statewide in practice.
And because the national parties will try to ride this too: the BJP‑led Centre’s Code on Wages sits famous for what it hasn’t implemented, while the Congress prefers a press conference to a rate card a driver can feed his family on. Telangana has at least put a law on paper; the unions are asking for delivery. Delhi can keep the speeches. A meter that pays would do.