Hyderabad: Former Telangana Minister and BRS leader T. Harish Rao on Monday toured Erragadda, interacting with auto drivers and listening to their grievances. He also travelled from Erragadda to Telangana Bhavan in an auto rickshaw to express solidarity with the community.
During his interaction, Harish Rao said the condition of auto drivers had worsened under Congress rule. He claimed that 161 drivers had taken their lives due to financial distress during the present government’s tenure, leaving their families destitute.
Harish Rao auto drivers meeting highlights growing distress
Rao demanded ₹10 lakh ex-gratia for every family of the deceased drivers. He urged all auto workers to stay strong and patient, appealing to them not to resort to suicide.
He shared that he had travelled with a driver named Ramesh Goud, who lamented being unable to pay his child’s school fees or house rent. “The government spends ₹5,000 crore on roads but claims to have no funds for auto drivers. That is shameful,” Harish Rao said.
He accused the Congress government of betraying auto drivers after promising to support them. Rao alleged that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s administration was more focused on political deals in Delhi than on addressing workers’ issues.
Harish Rao demands Congress fulfil promises to auto drivers
Harish Rao reminded that Rahul Gandhi had promised ₹12,000 per year for each auto driver during the election campaign. “That promise has been broken. The Congress owes ₹1,500 crore to the state’s auto drivers,” he said.
Drawing a comparison, he said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu delivered ₹15,000 per driver within a year of returning to power. “Revanth Reddy has been in office for two years but has not honoured a single promise,” Rao said, adding that Reddy lacked Naidu’s sincerity.
He warned that the BRS would continue its agitation until the Congress government fulfilled its commitment to auto drivers. Rao urged voters to defeat the Congress in the Jubilee Hills by-election, saying that only a setback there would push the Chief Minister to act on his promises.