Loss of biz forced 7 debt-riddenauto drivers to end life in 6 mths

Nagpur: Unable to repay debt following loss of livelihood due to government policies, seven autorickshaw drivers from across the state have committed suicide in the last six months.
Working president of Autorickshaw Malak Chalak Sanghatana Joint Action Committee Vilas Bhalekar claimed seven autorickshaw drivers — Krishna Rattan Chilghar (Aurangabad), Vijay Ramdas Thorat (Pahur in Jalgaon district), Nitin Kannamwar (Prem Nagar, Nagpur), Mahadev Chandrakant, Vasant Paegude and Mayur Patil (Pune) and Bharat Dombale (Sangli) have allegedly committed suicide as they were under pressure from private financiers to repay the money that they had borrowed from them.
In a press statement, the committee president Shashank Rao said over 20 lakh autorickshaw drivers (including 12,000 from Nagpur city) across the state are planning to launch agitation to press for their long-pending demands.
Bhalekar alleged that since the BJP government came to power in Maharashtra in 2014, condition of autorickshaw drivers has deteriorated. Citing example, Bhalekar claimed that in last five years, the permit fee for autorickshaw drivers has increased from Rs200 to Rs10,700. Besides this, the BJP-led government has also hiked the annual insurance premium to Rs9,300 from Rs3,600, autorickshaw passing fee too has been increased from Rs200 to Rs600, registration fee from Rs100 to Rs1,000, hypothecation fee from Rs100 to Rs1,500. “Already facing financial crisis due to competition from app-based taxis, the hike in fees has ruined the auto business,” said Bhalekar.
The demands of the auto drivers include increase in the minimum auto fare, immediate stoppage to issuing new auto permits, complete ban on Ola and Uber services in the state and to provide badges to those who have been driving autos for more than three years.
To raise these issues, the committee had given a call for indefinite strike from July 8. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had summoned committee leaders including Rao, Bhalekar and secretary Baba Kamble on the eve of the strike and he is learnt to have promised to fulfil their demands. “Convinced by the CM’s assurances, we had called off the strike,” Kamble said.
The CM had promised to form welfare board for autorickshaw drivers and resolve other demands within a month, but so far no initiatives were taken by the government. Soon, the state will go to polls and our demand will not be met again, said Kamble. “The government inaction is forcing the autorickshaw drivers to consider going on strike,” he added.