Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany urged autorickshaw unions to withdraw the
strike prior to any discussion. He said the Corporation has made its 
position clear in the issue but has not initiated any formal discussions
with autorickshaw unions as the district collectorate is already
looking into the issue.

“The reasoning that traffic blockades are a
regular incident in Kochi and that it results in fuel loss, as the auto
drivers complain about, seems to be quite convincing. Discussions
should focus on finding a realistic remedy for this problem,” said the
Mayor.

But, he added that the solution cannot be met with doing
away with metering. “Meter should be down, that’s what the law states
and it’s beyond negotiation. And all union leaders whom I have met have
agreed to this, it’s only that they want their issues to be resolved,”
he said.

The Mayor was said that metering system needs some revision.

 “It’s
high time we fix city limit for meters so that the rates to ply inside
the city will be different from that to the hinterlands. I understand
that this a common practise in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode,” said
Tony Chammany.