Hyderabad: The Transport Joint Action Committee (JAC) in Telangana late on Sunday, August 23, announced its decision to withdraw its indefinite strike scheduled from Monday.
Issuing a statement, the JAC said that Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar had positively responded to their “genuine demands”. It said the minister had assured them of action on all their demands, including “the Welfare Board, auto and cab fair fares, up to Rs 1.50 lakh support for EV retrofitment, per-km and per-minute fares for cab, auto and goods transport under the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines, and regulation of private vehicles used for commercial services.”
Appreciating the prompt response by the state government, the JAC chose to withdraw its call for a strike.
Earlier in the day, the minister had urged the JAC to withdraw the strike. Prabhakar said the government would set up a welfare board for auto drivers and provide financial assistance of Rs 1.50 lakh to each driver for switching to electric auto rickshaws. “The government aims to replace existing auto rickshaws with electric autos in Hyderabad in a phased manner,” he said.
However, all of Sunday, the public, especially parents of school-going children, were on tenterhooks. Parents in Hyderabad even requested the government to declare holidays in the wake of the strike call.
The union had alleged that the government’s ignorance had pushed several auto drivers to suicide. “The government’s policies have caused us severe financial distress. Around 200 drivers have died by suicide in the state over the past three years,” JAC leader Arla Sathireddy had said.
