There are around 5,000 autorickshaw drivers in the district but only 1,000 of them have enrolled themselves in a welfare board constituted exclusively for such drivers by the State Government, according to Collector L. Subramanian.
Addressing a road safety awareness camp conducted for autorickshaw drivers at MADITSSIA Hall here on Saturday, he urged all the drivers to become members of the welfare board in order to receive benefits such as financial assistance for education, marriage and other such events.
Applications for membership to the welfare board were available at the office of the Social Welfare Department on the Collectorate campus and they would be distributed to all autorickshaw drivers who possessed driving licences and badges issued by the Regional Transport Officers, he said.
Stressing the significant role played by autorickshaw drivers in promoting tourism, the Collector said: “You are actually the tourism ambassadors of the district. Your honesty and helping tendency must earn a good name for the district among foreign as well as domestic tourists.”
Later, he distributed awards to select autorickshaw drivers for having driven the vehicles safely without causing road accidents. Women auto rickshaw drivers constituted a significant number of the awardees and participants in the camp.
Commissioner of Police Sanjay Mathur, Superintendent of Police V. Balakrishnan, MADITSSIA president V.S. Manimaran and Regional Transport Officers K. Kalyankumar (central), N. Ravichandran (north), K. Natarajan (south) also participated.
