Co-op spirit earns praise for auto owners

Autorickshaw drivers struggling to make ends meet post the Covid-19 induced lockdowns have been benefitted by a 'cooperative spirit' prevailing among owners renting autorickshaws.

Shankar, who has been driving an autorickshaw on rent since a decade in Mangaluru, says after the lockdown was lifted their per day earnings dipped by 50 to 60%.

Earlier, I used to earn between Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 and return home with minimum Rs 500 after deducting owner’s rent, fuel and my personal expenses, he recollects.

“Now my earnings per day are less than Rs 500. Though I cut down on my expenses, the money saved is not enough even to buy biscuits for my children,” he rued.

The autorickshaw owner who realised that Shankar was in distress, stopped accepting full rent.

"Before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, I was paying Rs 300 and now I pay Rs 150 as rent," he says with a smile.

Shankar says other owners also took a cue and had begun to collect between Rs 150 to Rs 200 based on their relationship with their autorickshaw drivers.

Such drivers benefitting from the co-operative spirit of owners are merely 15 to 20% of the total of about 30,000 autorickshaw drivers in the district, informs DK district BMS Auto Drivers' Association President Bhaskar Rao.

Many owners have been forced to keep their autorickshaws idling and work as labourers, informs Rao.

A relief amount of Rs 5,000 is yet to reach the autorickshaw drivers. The government had promised that the amount will be deposited in the account of autorickshaw drivers without 'badges'. But the Seva Sindhu portal still insists on badge number from applicants, he said.

“The association had met District In-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary in Sullia on Saturday and had submitted a memorandum to make the Seva Sindhu portal accept applications from autorickshaw drivers without badges,” Bhaskar Rao said and added that they also had requested the minister to extend the deadline to submit applications on the portal.