Khammam: There are many quotes that emphasise on the importance of unity, but no one understands its significance better than the members of Khammam Two-Wheeler Mechanics Association.
Coming into existence in 2015, the association has been serving its members by lending a much-needed leg up when someone is in need. With around 250 members the association has set an example of unity worth emulating.
Speaking to Telangana Today, association president Vangala Kondal Rao stated that bike mechanics do not have social security and there are no schemes to support them. Hence Khammam Two-Wheeler Mechanics Association has been formed to look after their welfare.
The association members contribute Rs 100 to the common fund. In case of emergency special contributions will be made. There are around 5,000 bike mechanics in Khammam district. City and mandal level associations work in cooperation. There are many schemes the association came up with.
For instance, when a child of any mechanic secures admission into professional courses like medicine or engineering Rs 10,000 will be given to that child, whose parents will be felicitated as an honour.
If a tenth-class student secures above 9 GPA the student gets Rs 5,000. When a mechanic’s daughter gets married a marriage gift of Rs 10,000 will be presented and if a girl child is born a fixed deposit of Rs 11,116 is made in the name of the child, Kondal Rao informed.
A financial assistance of Rs 20,000 is offered in case of electric short-circuits in mechanic shops. The members get Rs 10,000 in case of a road accident and they suffer fractures in limbs. The same amount will be given for those who underwent heart surgery, he noted.
Kondal Rao revealed that a member’s family gets a financial assistance of Rs 70,000 when a mechanic passes away. Of that Rs 40,000 will be contributed by the city association and the rest by the mandal level associations.
Not just this, a mechanic who crosses 60 years, Rs 30,000 will be given duly felicitating the wife and husband. “We do all these with the consent of the association’s committee members,” said the association general secretary L Murali.
So far Rs 15 lakh was spent in supporting the members. Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar helped the members to receive an assistance of Rs 20 lakh under CMRF, Kondal Rao explained.