#Chennai auto rickshaw game drivers#
#Chennai auto rickshaw game driver#

For form's sake, though, let us reiterate that in most major Indian cities, the two consistent complaints about auto drivers are that they overcharge and they refuse passengers.

The complaints against auto drivers are so familiar to most of us, it seems unnecessary to go into them. But the critical role of the auto in transportation across urban India means that, for the middle classes, it also remains hard to live without them.

Consistent complaints about drivers imply that it is also often rather difficult to live with them.

#Chennai auto rickshaw game driver#

While the establishment sees the auto driver as a new and unwelcome intruder into the political arena, to the average commuter these drivers are a regular and unavoidable source of aggravation, frustration and rage. The auto drivers will have to wait to see post-elections whether their hardships are quickly forgotten or whether their support for the AAP will lead to real policy changes that break the ladder of exploitation. Arvind Kejriwal has issued an open leaflet to drivers outlining the issues and how the AAP will tackle them when in power.' 'The AAP acknowledges that auto drivers have genuine grievances,' says Rakesh Agarwal, founder of the auto-rickshaw social enterprise Nyayabhoomi (and the city's top authority on the auto-rickshaw sector), which is supporting the AAP 'as yet the party has made no grand promises, but its efforts to understand the suffering of the driver has earned it their support. AAP will ensure the emergence of strong unions which truly represent drivers.'Д¬alled 'uncivil' by the ruling Congress, it is little wonder that Delhi's autowallahs have embraced the AAP simply because the party has sought to understand their actions, rather than simply reflect the public mood by lambasting them. 'When the AAP forms the government,' claims AAP spokesperson Gaurav Singh, 'we will build auto stands, stop vehicle impounding, focus on training with a view to reducing refusal and overcharging, eliminate the finance mafia and introduce financial benefits for auto drivers. The fledgling party appears to be mobilising Delhi's auto drivers as a voting block, much to the disdain of the ruling Congress which has described the use of auto rickshaws as 'uncouth' and 'uncivilised' and is trying to block the posters in the High Court. There are currently about 70,000 autos in Delhi (the precise number is unknown), which means about 1.2 to 1.3 lakh auto drivers in the city (since most autos are driven for two daily shifts by different drivers). In the last few months, the Aam Aadmi Party has cannily involved Delhi's auto rickshaw drivers in its political campaigns: autos have ferried party members, delivered petitions and carried AAP campaign posters on their backs.

Several auto rickshaw workersвЂ™ unions across the state have urged the government to consider relaxing the rule about the number of passengers that can be ferried in an auto due to the impracticality of the stipulation.In the frenzied run up to the Delhi assembly elections in November this year, what is the likelihood that the ruling Congress party would insult a population of more than a lakh workers and call them 'uncivilized'? Highly likely, it turns out, when the constituency is that of auto rickshaw drivers and the party feels assured of the support of both the middle classes and the media. According to official records, around 2.7 lakh auto rickshaws operate in Tamil Nadu, says a reportВ in the New Indian Express. Drivers who live in containment zones will not be permitted to take their vehicles out for services. Face masks for the driver and the passenger and hand sanitisers are mandatory inside the vehicle. Apart from the driver, the autos can carry only one passenger and the vehicle must be sprayed with disinfectants thrice a day. The government also imposed conditions for resumption of auto rickshaw services in the state like the number of passengers allowed. In other areas of the state, autos and cycle rickshaws can start plying between 7 am and 7 pm. As per reports, a press release stated that autos in Chennai corporation and those in containment areas will not be permitted to run.