“If the fuel price rises, shouldn’t the fare increase too?” asked Shaan, a 30-year-old cab driver, on Monday, July 27, as a 12-hour protest unfolded across Kolkata. He was among the drivers who stayed offline between 6 am and 6 pm as the Centre of Indian Trade Unions-affiliated Kolkata App Cab Drivers and Operators Union gathered at Ramlila Park and marched to the state transport department to submit a charter of demands.The charter summarises what platform workers in India experience daily and what they are owed. Alongside the call for higher fares – minimum rates of Rs 30 per kilometre for air-conditioned cabs and Rs 25 for non-air-conditioned ones, against the current Rs 10-12 rate – the union demands that the state restructure fares in line with petrol and diesel prices, resolve Kolkata’s compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel station shortage, provide options other than E-20 fuels and keep private vehicles out of commercial ride-sourcing. These are not demands directed at Uber and Rapido alone, but also at the state as an infrastructure provider: workers expect the state to build the refuelling network, regulate the fare and stop shifting the costs of energy policy onto workers who are already in precarious situations.CNG: Late arrival and high pricesCNG entered Indian transport policy through the force of judicial activism. On July 28, 1998, the Supreme Court in M.C. Mehta v. Union of India, acting on the Bhure Lal Committee’s recommendations, directed Delhi’s entire public transport fleet to convert to CNG – a public health measure enforced against the backdrop of the national capital’s massive air pollution. Kolkata, a city which is largely polluted, took a different route because eastern India had limited CNG gas infrastructure to switch to. The Calcutta high court intervened in July 2008 and banned commercial vehicles registered before January 1, 1993, from the Kolkata Metropolitan Area, later pushed to July 31, 2009, and ordered petrol autorickshaws to be replaced with liquified petroleum gas (LPG).Photo: Ashique Thuppilikkat.The city’s first two CNG pumps were commissioned only on March 22, 2021, one by Indian Oil in New Town and another by Bharat Petroleum in Garia, with gas supply from Bengal Gas Company, a Gas Authority of India Limited–West Bengal government joint venture. Drivers converted in significant numbers as the wage arithmetic was persuasive. Though conversion of petrol vehicles to CNG costed Rs 40,000-45,000, leaving up the boot to a cylinder space, running costs fell to roughly Rs 3 per kilometre against Rs 7 per kilometre with petrol (with CNG then at Rs 67.67 per kilogram). Five years on, CNG in Kolkata retails at Rs 99.50 per kilogram – well above Delhi’s Rs 83.09 and Mumbai’s Rs 86 – a differential reflecting Kolkata’s position at the thin end of the pipeline network. Meanwhile petrol, at Rs 113.51 a litre, is one of the costliest among the metros. Infrastructure has not kept pace with the CNG vehicle policy the state encouraged. App cab drivers at the protest described waiting for three to six hours at CNG pumps. For workers already struggling to make a living on platforms such as Uber and Rapido, these long queues and infrastructural scarcity converts directly into unpaid labour time. Hence, they are demanding state intervention to expand CNG fuelling stations across Kolkata and to regulate its cost. E20: The new burden on workersWhen the National Policy on Biofuels, 2018, set a target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol, the programme was promoted as a way to cut fuel costs, reduce oil imports and support farmers. Union minister Nitin Gadkari became its most prominent advocate, telling a gathering in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district in September 2018 that ethanol from agricultural residue and municipal waste could bring diesel price down to Rs 50 a litre and petrol to Rs 55. Such promises made many drivers optimistic about the blend.Eight years on, app cab drivers argue the Union government’s policy has delivered none of what it promised. They contend that E20 returns lower mileage, raises maintenance costs and sells at effectively the same price as conventional petrol, leaving them to absorb higher operating costs with no corresponding benefit. The efficiency loss, at least, was anticipated. The NITI Aayog expert committee’s June 2021 “Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India 2020-25″ estimated a 6-7% loss in fuel efficiency for four-wheelers designed for ethanol-free petrol and calibrated for E10. It recommended that the petroleum ministry should plan for continued availability of suitable fuel for older vehicles and that tax incentives on blended fuel be considered “to compensate the consumers for a drop in efficiency.”By mid-2025, however, E20 had become effectively the only fuel at nearly all of India’s roughly 90,000 petrol stations, with no price reduction and lower blends withdrawn. In September 2025, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a public interest litigation seeking continued availability of ethanol-free petrol and clear disclosure at the pump, accepting the government’s argument that the policy benefits sugarcane farmers.Photo: Ashique Thuppilikkat.However, the impact on drivers’ wage arithmetic has been unforgiving and anger against the Union government, Gadkari in particular, dominated the recent protest slogans and speeches in Kolkata. One driver described buying Rs 500 of petrol and covering a 100 kms 18 months ago. However, now, he said, Rs 700 of fuel no longer guaranteed even 80 kms.On July 30, three days after the strike took place, Gadkari confirmed in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that E20 can reduce fuel economy by 2 to 6%, depending on vehicle category. The government maintains that durability and on-road tests found no failures attributable to E20 and that manufacturers will honour warranties. But many drivers, when asked, said such assurances no longer inspired confidence. “The car companies benefit when our vehicles need more repairs, and the minister’s family benefits too. Rich people can simply buy newer models, but we are still paying EMIs on our cars. We can’t just replace our vehicles like that,” one driver remarked.An organiser at the protest estimated that a driver incurs fixed daily costs of around Rs 200 – road tax, pollution certification, permits and other documentation – regardless of whether the vehicle leaves the driveway, on top of substantial platform commissions. “They are making us guinea pigs for their experiments,” he said, “It affects us very differently from someone who uses a private car.”Electric vehicles: Who is bearing the cost of decarbonisationMeanwhile, due to mounting worker grievances over stagnant earnings and rising fuel, maintenance and operating costs, ride-sourcing, e-commerce and delivery platforms are under pressure to accelerate the transition to electric mobility. Globally, they also face scrutiny over emissions and climate promises which critics dismiss as ‘greenwashing.’The Union of Concerned Scientists found that ride-sourcing trips in American cities generated an estimated 69% more climate pollution than the trips they displaced – partly through “deadheading,” the distance drivers travel without a passenger, and partly by drawing people away from walking, cycling and public transport. In 2025, Uber reported roughly 42.7 million tonnes CO₂ from its own operations, alongside its reliance on energy-intensive cloud computing and data centres for the algorithmic management of millions of workers and trips. Most platforms now promise zero-emission rides through a shift to electric vehicles.In Kolkata, the shift to EVs runs largely through fleet ownership and lease models, since they are too costly for most drivers to own. After the collapse of startups such as Snap-E, parts of their fleet were absorbed into platforms such as Rapido, with former drivers operating them on daily leases and charging infrastructure managed by ElectriVa. Operators such as Everest Fleet have expanded similarly, allowing platforms such as Uber to advance their zero-emission commitments without owning vehicles. The Kolkata App Cab Drivers and Operators Union argues these arrangements redistribute risk rather than eliminate it: drivers retain only 35-40% of earnings, the remaining 60-65% going to the fleet operator for lease and charging costs, leaving them with little choice but to work 12 to 15 hours a day to take home Rs 800 to Rs 1,000. Furthermore, companies such as BLive EZY, which entered Kolkata in late 2025, allow individuals invest in two and three-wheeler EV fleets leased to gig workers on Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto and Blinkit, with the company managing maintenance and rider operations. Platforms such as Swiggy also have partnered with firms like SUN Mobility to provide more e-mobility delivery options on rent. Platforms like Drizee also provide EV scooter rentals in Kolkata, mainly targeted at gig workers, reflecting the growing market around it.Photo: Ashique Thuppilikkat.Nonetheless, in a bizarre turn of events, according to one of the workers, food grocery platforms offer washroom access exclusively to those who are leasing electric bikes from their partners. Platforms’ zero emission targets increasingly rely on workers financing the transition to electric vehicles while continuing to classify themselves as independent contractors. This allows platforms to shift the costs and risks of decarbonisation onto workers without providing wage justice, social security or other labour protections. As with previous fuel transitions, electric mobility has been promoted through promises of lower operating costs. In practice, however, workers face inadequate charging infrastructure, additional costs for parking and charging and long hours of unpaid time while waiting to recharge. Many drivers repaying substantial EV loans also lack access to home charging, forcing them to rely on paid facilities. Several participants further reported that charging stations prioritise fleet affiliated vehicles, leaving independent drivers with longer queues and less time to earn.While decarbonisation is essential in a city that ranks among the world’s most polluted, its costs cannot be passed on to workers already struggling to make ends meet. What workers are demanding is a more compassionate way of governing and policy making where labouring bodies are not just tools but citizens with basic human rights.Ashique Ali Thuppilikkat is a researcher at the STREET Lab, University of Toronto. Dipsita Dhar and he are both affiliated with the SAFAR Foundation, Kolkata.