Scores of Uber and Careem drivers on Thursday held a protest outside the Supreme Court registry in Lahore against the "excessive challan tickets" reportedly issued to them and demanded of the ride-hailing companies to "increase their per-kilometre fares".

The protesters accused the government of treating them unfairly, urging them to "end issuing excessive challan tickets to Careem and Uber drivers".

Hussain Butt, the driver leading the protests, complained that "Uber and Careem are doing us wrong... they should increase the per kilometre rates."

Read: Minister warns ride-hailing services to get route permits or face ban

Furthermore, they urged the two companies to bring back their loan schemes through which the drivers were able to lease their cars. "The discontinuation of loan scheme is the economic murder of the youth," they claimed.

Responding to the demands of raise in the "per-kilometre fares" made by the Uber drivers, the company issued a statement saying, "Uber is committed to [hold] dialogue with partner drivers […] thousands of partners driving with Uber are satisfied."

It further said that there was a dedicated partner support centre located in the provincial capital to answer the queries of Uber drivers and "support any concerns or problems they might encounter".

Careem has so far not responded to Dawn's query.