Shantha to get her own auto

BENGALURU: It was certainly a Happy Women’s Day for Shantha N, the plucky grandma who drives an autorickshaw for a livelihood. After driving a rented autorickshaw for 27 years to run her small household, 59-year-old Shantha’s long-time dream of owning a three-wheeler may finally be realised.

In its Friday edition, TNIE carried a story headlined, “At 59, after driving for 27 years, she wants her own autorickshaw”, featuring Shantha, who drives a rented auto. She is the sole support of her grandson, who lost his parents a few years ago.

Apart from financial constraints, Shantha lost her caste certificate and SSLC marks card in a fire accident many years ago, which put the brakes on her dream to own a pink auto under a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike scheme. The civic body gives Rs 70,000 in subsidies for pink autos (driven by women).

Congress MLC Rizwan Arshad, who learnt about Shantha’s plight from his social media team members Bhushan and Kashyap Nandan, stepped in to help her.

Arshad told TNIE that newspapers carry many news stories, but this one touched his heart. “We learnt that she doesn’t have documents, so I arranged to get her the required documents from the BBMP office. She will now get some amount, and for the remaining, we will make arrangements to get her an autorickshaw. In case she doesn’t get duplicate certificates, we will make arrangements for the complete amount,’’ he said.

According to Kashyap Nandan, it will take some time to get a pink auto. “Till then, we have made arrangements for an alternate regular auto which she can drive without paying the daily rent. It will be handed over to her on Saturday,’’ he said.“I am very happy now. At least I can look forward to owning an auto,’’ Shantha told TNIE.