CHENNAI: Almost every sector is suffering due to the lockdown, but the worst hit are those who depend on daily wages. With vehicles and people going off the road, auto drivers across the country have been badly hit. Unable to do business over the last 10 days, many of their families are struggling to make ends meet.
“On average, if we make around Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 a day, we get to keep about Rs 600-Rs 800, after all expenses,” says K Rajarathinam of Ambattur. “My loss over the last 10 days is at least Rs 6,000.”
The daily expenses at home isn’t what haunts them, at least not as much as the money they may have borrowed from local lenders. “It hangs over our head, all the time,” says one driver. There are other drivers, who have bought their autos with bank and private loans, now staring at huge dues.
“The moratorium helps, but once the issue is resolved I am not sure if I will work to repay my loan dues or pay my children’s school fees, which will be due by June, or take care of other home affairs,” says Kumar, another driver. The government has announced a financial aid of Rs 1,000 for auto drivers registered with the State’s unorganised workers’ welfare board.But unionists are not happy.
“The city has around 75,000 auto drivers, and the government has made a list from the welfare board, which has just 27,000,” says M Chandran, General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Auto Drivers Association. Amid lockdown, Chennai Mahanagar auto drivers association which comprises of 352 members had distributed five kgs of rice to over 100 families of drivers.