BENGALURU: The autorickshaw drivers and private bus owners have been hit hard since after the implementation of ‘Shakti’ free bus ride scheme. Women are now increasingly opting for government buses over autorikshaws. Due to this, some drivers are selling their autos.
Therefore, the autorickshaw drivers’ association has now decided to conduct a survey of auto drivers, the distances they covered earlier and the difference in their earnings.
C Srinivasan, president of Bengaluru Auto Drivers Union said, there are six zonal committees in the city and hundreds of local units come under these committees. The association has decided to conduct a survey through these branches and count the number of trips each autorickshaw makes. Autorickshaw drivers are already affected by bike taxi aggregators and not many people are taking autos during the month of Ashada, the union pointed out.
The union said that they will request the government to pay them some form of compensation to cover their losses due to the Shakti scheme, Srinivasan added.
Javed Ahmed, vice president of BADU, CITU, said, “It is almost three weeks since the free bus travel scheme for women was launched by the government. The Shakti scheme is getting overwhelming response, but, auto drivers have been badly affected as it is taking away their earnings. Thus, the Bengaluru Autorickshaw Drivers Union, CITU have come up with a plan of conducting survey of the 2.25 lakh autorickshaws plying in Bengaluru. The survey into aspects like driver’s income, earlier earnings, etc”, he explained.