The autorickshaws in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad would go off the roads indefinitely from May 2 in protest against the government’s ‘inordinate delay’ in increasing the existing auto fares and also demanding a total ban on the overloaded share autorikshaws. In a release, Telangana Auto drivers Joint Action Committee Convenor Mohd Amanullah Khan here welcomed the announcement of the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in implementing pension scheme to auto driver in the entire state.
However, he demanded that the amount in case of accidental death of the the driver be increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and the government should set up Welfare Board for auto drivers so that their children were educated and houses allotted to the homeless auto drivers. The other important demands of auto drivers included exemption from police e-challan system as done in Vijayawada, exemption from 8th class pass condition to obtain driving license and badge to drive autorickshaw. Since the state government had fixed the fares on December 14, 2010 last time, there has been an increase of Rs 19 in LPG and 14 in petrol rates per liter.
The government should accordingly hike fares to Rs 22 as a minimum and set Rs 11 per km, the release added. UNI