KTR urges govt. to come to rescue of autorickshaw drivers hit by free bus travel facility

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao speaking at a protest organised by the auto drivers’ union in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: BY ARRANGEMENT

HYDERABAD

The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has assured autorickshaw drivers to work towards resolution of their problems and raise the issue in the Assembly as free travel facility for women in Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) buses under Mahalakshmi scheme has impacted their daily earnings.

In a 13-point list of demands, the autorickshaw drivers’ union sought permits for 20,000 autorickshaws in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation area, ex-gratia payments to those who have lost their livelihoods, and establishment of a welfare board dedicated to autorickshaw drivers. They also called for an increase in the minimum fare on auto meters, citing a steady rise in fuel prices over the past decade.

Speaking at a dharna organised by the union here on Tuesday, BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao said though his party was not against the free bus travel facility, the State government should protect the interest of autorickshaw drivers by providing them ₹5,000 per month support in lieu of their impacted livelihood.

A large number of rural youth as also those in the city as also in all parts of the State had taken to plying autos as their livelihood/ economic activity for decades and most of them have been managing their families with the income from carrying passengers to their destinations. A total of about 6.5 lakh autorickshaw drivers and their families were depending on the livelihood activity in the State.

However, their fortunes had taken a turn for the worse with the introduction of free bus travel facility for women in TGSRTC buses. Several autorickshaw drivers had told him that many of them used to make earnings up to ₹2,000 a day before the free bus travel facility, but now they were finding it difficult to make both ends meet.

He recollected that All India Congress Committee leader Rahul Gandhi had boarded an autorickshaw last year and assured the auto drivers’ community that the Congress government would address their issues. But, like many other promises of the Congress party, a resolution to the auto drivers issue had become a mirage.