Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLA T Harish Rao on Monday, October 27 urged the Telangana government to pay Rs 24,000 to auto drivers in Telangana.
Rao criticised the Congress government for not fulfilling a promise made to the auto drivers during the Telangana Assembly election in 2023. The Congress party had promised an annual amount of Rs 12,000 to auto drivers.
Rao took an auto rickshaw ride to meet auto drivers at Erragadda in Hyderabad. Videos shared on social media show the Siddipet MLA travelling in an auto accompanied by BRS supporters. While interacting with the auto drivers, Rao claimed, “Since the Congress came to power, the condition of auto drivers has worsened. 161 auto drivers have died by suicide since the Congress formed the government.”
He urged the Telangana government to provide a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the deceased auto drivers. Rao appealed to the auto drivers not to take the extreme step.
He added that the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi had made a false promise to auto drivers to gain their votes. “Revanth Reddy hasn’t fulfilled any promise in two years, if the government decides to pay the due amount for two years it will cost Rs 1500 crore,” the former Telangana finance minster said.
Taking a dig at the application fee for liquor shop license, the Siddipet MLA said, “As the application fee for liquor shop license was set at Rs 3 lakh, the government will earn a revenue of Rs 3 thousand crores on liquor tenders. The auto drivers require only Rs 1500 crore.”
BRS working president KT Rama Rao was also seen taking an auto rickshaw ride from Jubilee Hills Checkpost to Telangana Bhavan.
