Despite a long list of complaints passengers have against at least a section of them, autorickshaws and taxis remain an integral part of the transport ecosystem in the city as the reach, availability, and efficacy of public transport continues to remain questionable. Yet, autorickshaw and taxi drivers say they have had the same set of problems - on and off the road - for years, and government after government has not been able to solve them.
Spending most hours in their day on the road, drivers have constant run-ins with the traffic police. Even though random checks have now stopped, drivers complained that they are subjected to a lot of harassment. They alleged that bringing this to the notice of many Ministers in the past has yielded no results.
Manjunatha, an auto driver from Mathikere, said: “Often, we are stopped by traffic police officers. They usually use a disrespectful tone with us even when we have all our documents in place. The government should look into these things.”
Although the prices of fuel or LPG are not in the hands of the State government, drivers believe that the elected representatives should use their positions for the welfare of the common people. “We elect them, and they become Ministers because of that. But when they must represent us at the national level, they are not of much help. Why do they never advocate or push for cutting LPG prices to help common men like us?” questioned Ganesha K., an auto driver in Shivajinagar.
The drivers also said that the selection of candidates has become a headache for them with no particular party having ever worked in their favour. “Should we look at the men at the top and vote? That does not work as the ground level leader might not be competent. This leaves us with the obvious option of looking for those who work for our welfare, but we cannot find any such leader,” said Nawaz A., a cab driver from M.S. Palya.
M. Manjunath, president, Adarsha Auto Union, and Tanveer Pasha, Ola Uber Drivers and Owners Association, put forth some expectations from the new government, mainly with regards to the implementation of the Drivers Development and Welfare Board which was announced by former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa. They also asked for a specific drivers’ day on the calendar, a group housing scheme, a convention centre, educational scholarships, and better health schemes for the drivers.
(This is the fourth part of a series on what people want - people from sectors whose voices are often unheard, and who are not on the top of priorities in votebank politics)
