Fewer passengers, financiers demanding money add to woes of auto drivers in city

New Delhi: Two months after the Delhi government relaxed restrictions amid Coronavirus outbreak, auto drivers in the city struggle to keep afloat as they face weak demand and financial pressure.

They rue that very few people are stepping out and availing their services, while private financiers are forcing them to pay back the loans taken by them to buy the vehicles.

Public service vehicles, including autorickshaws, were allowed to ply on the city roads following relaxations in the croronavirus-induced lockdown from May 17.

With people still keeping indoors due to the coronavirus scare, autorickshaw drivers are finding passengers with much difficulty these days.

Most of these drivers are finding it hard to survive, say auto union leaders.

Over 95,000 registered autos ply on city roads and most of them run in shifts. With the lockdown, a large number of auto drivers who drove rented vehicles left for their home states, they say.

Many also took the autos to their homes in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states. A few have returned, but most of them are waiting for the pandemic to subside to come back, says Rajender Soni, general secretary, Delhi Autorickshaw Sangh.

"It has now become difficult to feed our families due to a sharp decline in demand as people are not stepping out due to coronavirus. What worsens the situation for auto drivers is that they have taken loans and financiers are putting pressure on them for payment," he says.

Many auto drivers complain that they are being forced by private financiers to pay the instalments of loans threatening to confiscate their vehicles.

"I took a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh from a private financier who is now demanding payment and threatening to tow away my auto. I have a family of five, and last month I underwent an operation. I do not earn enough to feed my family let alone pay the instalment," says Pradeep Ahuja. Soni says his union has urged the government to waive off the interest on auto and taxi loans for the entire year in view of the pandemic and its economic impact.

Anuj Rathor, secretary, Rashtriya Rajdhani Kshetra Auto Drivers Union notes that the condition of those

driving rented vehicles is particularly grave.