On 1 April 2010 over 55,000 auto-rickshaws in the national capital kept off the roads. All the auto-rickshaw unions had announced that they would be going on strike that day but the strike was called off by the unions, except for the Dilli Auto-rickshaw Sangha, after talks with Delhi Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely and Transport Commissioner RK Verma on 31 March 2010. Since the drivers are a loosely organised lot and the system of communication between the union leaders and the members is not effective, the drivers could not be informed of the decision that the strike had been called off. So despite the decision arrived at by the leaders of not going on strike, the drivers stayed away from work.

On 22 March 2010, about 1,000 auto-rickshaw drivers had held protests outside the Delhi Vidhan Sabha and, the very next day, had given a strike notice to the state government. The auto-rickshaw unions were protesting against the statement made by Sheila Dixit in the Assembly on 17 March 2010 that auto-rickshaws should be phased out from Delhi. The CM`s comment—“Auto-rickshaws are not a good option because they are uncomfortable and pollute environment and that the auto-rickshaw drivers are unruly and harass passengers,”— disturbed the auto-rickshaw drivers, forcing them to fight the move by the government to go ahead with the phasing-out programme.

They were also demanding that the government set up a welfare board to help arrange pension, provident fund and medical insurance plans for auto-rickshaw drivers. The drivers demanded that shelters and stands be made for auto-rickshaws and that base fares be increased from Rs 10 to Rs 15 (some unions such as the Delhi auto-rickshaw Chalak Sangha want this hike to be Rs 20 and Rs 8 per km ), in view of the current price rise and inflation; similarly, they wanted the per kilometre charge to be a bit higher. Some of the drivers demanded that because these charges have not increased for years, the new rates should be as much as 50 per cent higher than the current rates.

Earlier, the CM had said that the government was looking for some alternative means of transport for commuters in Delhi by phasing out the current CNG-run auto-rickshaws in favour of battery operated vehicles. The auto-rickshaw drivers lamented that the price of CNG had already increased from Rs 13 to Rs 22.75 per kg, and only a few years back they had converted their diesel autos to CNG. Now again they would have to bear the financial burden of converting their auto-rickshaws to battery run vehicles.

The agitation is being spearheaded by a conglomerate of 18 unions, including Rashtriya Rajdhani Kshetra Tipahiya Chalak Union, Dilli Auto-rickshaw Sangha, Tipahiya Chalak Sangh, Bharatiya Tipahiya Chalak Sangh, Capital Auto-rickshaw Drivers Union and Rashtravadi Tipahiya Chalak Sangh. The unions said that they will be forced to take further action if the government does not reconsider its decisions.

A similar condition is brewing in Mumbai where the state government has proposed a life of seven years for auto-rickshaws. The Mumbai Auto-rickshaw Union is planning to approach the High Court if the proposal is implemented because there is already a Bombay High Court order, in which the court allowed vehicles that are more than 10 years old to ply on the roads if these were converted to CNG engines. According to the union, the government`s proposal, if implemented, would affect about 3 lakh auto-rickshaw drivers in Mumbai and 10 lakh in all of Maharashtra.