The announcement of free groceries and a cash assistance of Rs 5,000 for cab drivers in Delhi has triggered a similar demand from auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers in Bengaluru.
Soon after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made the announcement on Tuesday, drivers’ associations in Karnataka urged the state government to introduce a similar scheme to help them tide over the crisis.
G Sampath, general secretary, Adarsh Auto and Taxi Drivers’ Association, said Karnataka should emulate Delhi. “An undeclared lockdown has pushed poor families into a crisis. Drivers also face huge risks while ferrying passengers,” he said and sought a cash assistance of Rs 5,000 for each driver.
Sampath stressed that accessing the aid should be easy for drivers.
“Unnecessary barriers were put up last year. While the government announced the cash assistance for 7.75 lakh drivers, only 2.9 lakh actually received it,” he said.
Tanveer Pasha, the president of the Ola, Taxi for Sure, Uber Owners’ and Drivers’ Association, said the government must “wake up to the crisis in people’s homes”. “The government didn’t use the word ‘lockdown’ so that it didn’t have to pay any compensation. But one must look at the impact of these restrictions on people’s lives, especially those who depend on daily earnings,” he said and sought cash assistance for drivers and free groceries for the poor.