📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Ting Chen
Automobile
Mumbai Auto‑Rickshaw Drivers Return to Bihar, UP Over New Marathi Checks
✍️ News18
🗓 24 Aug 2026, 02:18 PM
👁 2
Following intensified Marathi language checks in Mumbai, many auto‑rickshaw drivers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are heading back to their home states.
Mumbai's municipal authorities have stepped up Marathi language verification for auto‑rickshaw drivers, prompting a noticeable exodus of drivers originally from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The new checks, aimed at ensuring drivers can communicate in the state language, have led several operators to decide to return to their native states rather than face potential penalties.
The affected drivers cite concerns over livelihood disruption, as the verification process often requires documentation and on‑spot interviews that many migrant drivers find difficult to meet. Consequently, a number of rickshaws have been withdrawn from Mumbai's streets, with owners opting to relocate their fleets back to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where they can operate without the language mandate.
Local transport unions have urged the authorities to consider a more inclusive approach, suggesting that multilingual proficiency should not be a sole criterion for operating permits. Meanwhile, the municipal corporation maintains that the checks are intended to improve passenger safety and communication, and it plans to continue the verification until compliance improves.
The affected drivers cite concerns over livelihood disruption, as the verification process often requires documentation and on‑spot interviews that many migrant drivers find difficult to meet. Consequently, a number of rickshaws have been withdrawn from Mumbai's streets, with owners opting to relocate their fleets back to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where they can operate without the language mandate.
Local transport unions have urged the authorities to consider a more inclusive approach, suggesting that multilingual proficiency should not be a sole criterion for operating permits. Meanwhile, the municipal corporation maintains that the checks are intended to improve passenger safety and communication, and it plans to continue the verification until compliance improves.