State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik on Thursday directed the state transport department and the Mumbai police to initiate large-scale action against cab aggregator companies in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) that charged exorbitant fares to commuters during the heavy rains in the past few days when the public transport services had collapsed.

“Heavy rain in MMR for the last three to four days had disrupted traffic. Complaints have been received that some app-based companies are taking advantage of this situation and are looting passengers financially. Strict action should be taken against such companies,” the transport minister said.

“Due to heavy rains, bus and local train services were disrupted in Mumbai and its suburbs. Taking advantage of this situation, app-based taxi services have been charging exorbitant fares. Where the usual fare is about Rs 200, these companies have charged Rs 600-Rs 800. I have directed the transport commissioner to cancel the licences of these app-based taxis for exploiting the vulnerability of passengers in adverse conditions,” Sarnaik said.