Harish Rao demands Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to auto drivers

BRS leader Harish Rao said 56 auto drivers died due to various reasons since the Congress came to power in Telangana.

Siddipet: Former Minister T Harish Rao said Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy was claiming that he would take up the Musi riverfront project with Rs 1.50 lakh crore even while auto drivers in the State were pleading for a relief of Rs.10,000 after the government’s decision to introduce free RTC travel services for women pushed them into a financial crisis.

Addressing the Siddipet Auto Credit Cooperative Society meeting on Monday, the former Minister said 56 auto drivers died due to various reasons since the Congress came to power in Telangana. He further demanded an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each of the auto drivers who died. The Congress had promised Rs 12,000 per auto driver but ignored the promise later, he said, adding that auto drivers were finding it difficult to pay their monthly EMI since their income came down drastically.

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Meanwhile, the government was aiming to demolish some 25,000 houses along the Musi river making thousands of families homeless. Even after watching moving tales of these households, Revanth Reddy was sticking to his decision. Stating that Revanth Reddy had built nothing so far after coming to power, except for demolishing poor people’s homes, Harish Rao said the Congress government had failed to fulfill all the promises they made during the election campaign.

Talking about the auto credit cooperative society, the Former Minister said that the society had given loans to the tune of Rs 2.10 crore so far besides providing Rs 2 lakh insurance cover to all the drivers in the town. He said that 26 auto driver families benefited from the insurance cover as they were given Rs 2 lakh cover after the demise of their family head. He distributed uniforms to the drivers who attended the meeting.