The Bengaluru Police on Friday issued an advisory to all cab aggregators in the city, saying that they must not take “unsafe” routes to the city’s international airport between 7 pm and 7 am, The News Minute reported. The police advisory came after a cab driver asked a 32-year-old woman to alight from the vehicle on Monday night as he did not want to take the tolled Ballari road to the airport.

The woman had reportedly pressed the emergency button as she realised that the Ola driver was taking the Begur Road, which has no street lights. The driver asked her to get down on the BK Halli-Bagalur road at 3.30 am, News18 reported. Ola allegedly did not respond to the woman’s calls for help for two hours.

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The police arrested the driver on Thursday after the woman filed a complaint with the airport police.

“That road has not yet been illuminated,” Bengaluru Commissioner of Police Bhaskar Rao told The News Minute. “We have issued an advisory to all cab aggregators that alternate routes cannot be taken to KIA [Kempegowda International Airport] between 7 pm and 7 am.” He added that if the advisory was ignored, the drivers’ trade licences would be cancelled.

“That road is not safe currently and it cannot be used unless it is marked safe,” Rao added. “So many warnings have been issued but drivers continue to take this route. We will take strict action if the advisory is not adhered to.”

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Ola Cabs said in a statement that it has already asked all its partner drivers to take the tolled road. “As per the advisory issued by the authorities, we have issued strict instructions to all driver-partners to access the city only through the toll-road; any deviations will lead to immediate termination from the platform,” the statement added.

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