The amending of acts by the Union government to favour industries over the poor will result in autorickshaw drivers being marginalised, said Vasant Achari, district general secretary of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) here on Wednesday.
Talking during the inauguration of a city-level conference of the Federation of Karnataka Autorickshaw Drivers’ Union, Mr. Achari spoke on the amendments to the Motor Vehicle Act. “They want to introduce a minimum education qualification for obtaining drivers licence. How is education and driving skill related?” he asked.
“For years, autorickshaw drivers have demanded a government pension scheme. There is no talk of that. Instead, the amendments make it difficult for autorickshaw drivers to ply,” claimed Mr. Achari.
He linked the amendments to the Act to amendments proposed to several acts such as the Companies Act and Factories Act as being the government’s intent of privatisation and commercialisation.
