Goodbye Premier Padmini!

On 28^th May the state government passed a resolution which may spell the end for one of the city’s most iconic landmarks – the Premier Padmini taxis or what we lovingly refer to as kali peeli.

Picture by blogs.reuters.com

The resolution passed by the government has impacted the Padmini owners on two fronts. Firstly, it has reduced the number of years a taxi can run on Mumbai’s roads from 25 years to 20 years. And secondly, the 2018 deadline to scrap all archaic Premier Padmini’s has been reduced by 5 years to 31^st July 2013! 

Since most of these taxis fall in the above 20 years age bracket, come August 2013, spotting a Padmini taxi will be a rarity in Mumbai! Now who must have imagined that!

As per various estimates there are around 10,000 Padmini’s plying on the city roads and this order is expected to impact most of them. Mumbai’s Taximen Union chief, Mr A L Quadros while speaking to Mumbai Mirror said that though the exact number of Padmini’s that will run after the July 31^st deadline is not exactly known, the number will definitely be quite small

Though this might come as sad news to many who consider these taxis as nostalgic and an icon of the city, majority of the daily commuter will welcome the move as the quality of travel in these ageing taxis had become quite unpleasant to say the least. In fact a lot of people these days prefer to travel only by the newer taxis.

The same resolution has also pegged the maximum age for auto rickshaw’s at 16 years.

So take out your cameras and capture pictures or hitch a ride in one of these iconic taxis before they too become a part of city’s history like the trams. Ahh, we will so miss these beautiful taxis! 

Would you miss them too or would you rather watch them get scrapped? Let us know what you think...

Picture by onlybombay.blogspot.com