Haven’t got government’s relief: Auto drivers

Tamil Nadu Auto Thozhilalar Sammelanam president S Balasubramanian said, “There are only 83,500 members of the welfare board. Of them, only about 40,000 have renewed their membership. Hence, the assistance would be given only to 40,000 drivers. But majority of them did not receive the assistance yet,” he alleged.

So far, the financial assistance was paid to mere 9,000 auto drivers. The welfare boards officials were citing lack of bank account details for the inordinate delay in the payment,” he noted.

Pannerselvam, an auto-rickshaw driver from Triplicane said, “There is no clear response from the welfare board officials. Many of the drivers were saying that we should open an account at the Post office for the money to get credited in the account.”

Balasubramanian threatened to leave the autos at police commissioner office if the government failed to provide Rs 15,000 each to all the drivers and lift the ban on plying autos immediately.

Several calls made to the officials of the welfare board went unanswered.

Meanwhile, 200 auto drivers in Tiruchy staged a protest on Wednesday demanding a cash relief of Rs 10,000 each in front of the Collectorate.