Auto rickshaw drivers worry over dent in income with Maha lakshmi scheme

Auto rickshaw drivers and owners fear that the free travel scheme may make a dent in their income.

Khammam: Even as the State government launched Mahalakshmi free travel scheme for women in Telangana, auto rickshaw drivers are worried about their livelihood.

Auto rickshaw drivers and owners fear that the free travel scheme may make a dent in their income. They say that women would now prefer travelling in TSRTC buses free of cost instead of auto rickshaws, which ferry passengers for shorter distances ranging from 10 to 30 km or more.

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For instance auto rickshaws in Khammam operate vehicles from Khammam city to places like Kusumanchi which is 19 km away from the city, to Bonakal located at a distance of around 28 km, to Palair located at a distance of 26 km and other places.

Government employees working in rural areas live in the city and travel to their work place by RTC buses or by auto rickshaws. Similarly girl students living in rural areas and studying in Khammam reach the city either by buses or auto rickshaws, said a driver Yakub Ali.

The same is the case with female farm labourers and farmers, who bring vegetables to towns. Now they all will travel by RTC buses. It will certainly have a serious negative impact on auto rickshaw drivers income, he complained.

Speaking to Telangana an auto rickshaw driver Samanth Kumar of Kothagudem said he operates auto rickshaw between Kothagudem and Paloncha towns the travel distance of which is 11 km. “Now with Mahalakshmi, I may lose income from women passengers” he lamented.