A Joint Committee of the Auto Trade Unions has petitioned the Coimbatore District Collector seeking permission to permit operation of autos once the lockdown is released.
Coimbatore: A Joint Committee of the Auto Trade Unions has petitioned the Coimbatore District Collector seeking permission to permit the operation of autos once the lockdown is released.
Automobiles have been off the roads for the past two months due to the state government's order for public transport to cease operations. As a result of this, families of auto drivers have had a difficult two months. With the lockdown announced by the government coming to an end on May 17, the Committee has requested the District Collector to permit functioning of autos from May 18.
Speaking to the press, the Joint Committee President, Sukumaran, said, "Petitions to permit functioning of autos have been filed five times. The government must therefore heed to our request and permit us to operate autos."
Further he said, "There are more than 15,000 people dependent on autos. Only 300 auto drivers are registered with the welfare board. The registered members of the Welfare board received the relief amount but only partially. Therefore, arrangements must be made to provide relief to all the auto drivers."
Regarding he reason for the low number of registrations at the welfare board, he said, "only those who have passed standard eight are provided with the badges. As a result of this 70% of the auto drivers do not own a badge and hence the registrations in the welfare board are very less."