This auto driver finds it hard to make both ends meet
Neeraj Bagga
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, June 8
Rakesh Kumar, 35, an autorickshaw driver, is struggling to find a customer on a sunny afternoon in the city.
Before the imposition of lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19, roads would be teeming with autos and were an essential mode of transportation for commuters. Now, they are being seen in small numbers.
“My wife, earning Rs 4,000 per month, at a boutique shop, lost her job after the lockdown. “I have two school-going children to support and Rs 7,250 monthly installment to pay towards the loan taken for the CNG auto which I had procured two years back.”
He recalled that before lockdown, after slogging for almost 12 hours, he used to earn between Rs 300 to Rs 400 per day, (after bearing all expenses on such as fuel, service, repair and loan installment). Now, after working for similar duration, he was hardly earning a little over Rs 100, which is suffice only for a day’s milk expenses.
“We doubled the rates from Rs 10 per passenger to Rs 20. Even then it is of no use as we cannot accommodate more than two passengers at a time. The stretch on the GT road from Chheharta Chowk to the Inter-state Bus Terminal has a number of schools and colleges besides the railway station and commercial pockets.
