Hyderabad: The Telangana Four Wheeler Driver’s Association (TFWDA) has asked the state government to clear pending bills of hired vehicles immediately. The organisation said that the bills from departments like Excise, Panchayat Raj, Ground Water etc have been pending from at least five months. Shaik Salauddin, TFWDA founder, also said that hired vehicle services in Telangana will be halted if the state government does not revise the monthly rentals for the roughly 30000 vehicle owners.
“In spite of repeated requests to the Telangana Transport department for revising and increasing vehicle rentals, they have not increased the charges. We will halt all operations for officers if they don’t hike the rentals. We are requesting the Telangana Chief Secretary to address our issue. Otherwise we will take a decision regarding this soon,” Salauddin told Siasat.com.
The TFDWA has sought an increase from the current Rs 33000 per month (districts) and Rs 34000 (Hyderabad) to Rs 66000 and Rs 68000 in Telangana. “Multiple representation for Government official revision of fixed hire charges for vehicles engaged on hire by the all Departments more than 7 years ago requiring immediate revision to save the owner-cum-drivers and their families. All Departments Hire Vehicles charges of all Districts. Last 6 to 15 months pending bills. We and our family members are facing a lot of problems,” said a representation from the TFDWA to the state government in February.
Salauddin said that unemployed youth belonging to Telangana, mostly coming from SC, ST, B.C and minority communities, underwent training in driving of light motor vehicles and then purchased vehicles with finances provided by various institutions to work as hired drivers in different departments of the Telangana government.
“Our vehicles are mostly used for Government departments round the clock for most difficult jobs like Enforcement duties, protocol duties and other emergencies. Whenever the officers require we attend to the public duties round the clock 24 x 7. For this purpose, in addition to the Owner – Cum – Driver we maintain an extra driver, preferably from our families or well-known neighbours to attend to these duties faithfully,” stated Salauddin.
He added that the price of fuel has also increased in Telangana in the seven years the Rs 33000 and 34000 per month amount was fixed for drivers. “During the same period cost of living has increased by more than 25% as seen from the cost-of-living index. Most of the vehicles are discarded in about 7 years. The monthly EMI works out to Rs. 14,000 that may go up to Rs. 20,000 based on the cars employed for hiring of vehicle to the departments,” Salauddin said.
