Autorickshaw drivers demand ban on cabs

Nagpur: To press for their various pending demands, around 150 autorickshaw drivers under the banner of Tiger Autorickshaw Sanghthana, Nagpur, on Tuesday staged a demonstration outside the city Regional Transport Office.
The delegation led by Sanghthana’s patron Vilas Bhalekar met the city RTO Bajrang Kharmate and counted the demands of the autorickshaw drivers including formation of welfare board for autorickshaw drivers, ban on all app-based private cabs, blanket ban on illegal passengers vehicles in city limits.

Bhalekar urged the RTO to approach the state government to minimize the premium of insurance from autorickshaw drivers. According to him, over 15 lakh autorickshaw drivers pay Rs1,100 crore to private insurance companies towards vehicle insurance. He, however, pointed out the state government has an insurance licence, so it can too provide insurance cover to autorickshaws. Bhalekar said if the government starts providing insurance, the premium collected could be utilized to set up the welfare board. “Autorickshaw drivers should be brought under the pension scheme,” he demanded.

If the government ignores these long pending demands, the autorickshaw unions across the state will intensify the agitation, said the Sanghthana President Javed Sheikh.