Two separate rallies were held by autorickshaw drivers in the Capital on Monday. While the first was organised outside the Delhi Secretariat by Swaraj India-backed drivers alleging a scam in issuance of permits and demanding a CBI inquiry into the matter, the second was in favour of demonetisation.
Autorickshaw drivers marched from ITO to the Delhi Secretariat and demanded that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Transport Minister Satyendar Jain address their demands. Extending support to the protesters, Swaraj India national president Yogendra Yadav said, “We recently exposed the permit scam running right under the nose of the Delhi government. An unholy nexus between the Delhi government and the financiers is resulting in poor drivers being forced to purchase autorickshaw worth Rs.1.85 lakh for Rs.4.50 lakh.”
A Swaraj India spokesperson alleged that 10,000 auto permits had been stopped by the Delhi government, which was hurting the auto drivers. He said the Transport Department should again start issuing these permits.
Meanwhile, the Delhi autorickshaw Sangh, a unit of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, hit the streets in favour of demonetisation and slammed Mr. Kejriwal and other leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, for opposing the scrapping of high-value currency.
