Auto drivers ask Congress to keep Rs 12k word
Karimnagar auto workers rallied to the Collectorate demanding the Congress government deliver what it put in writing for drivers: Rs 12,000 a year and a welfare board. The promise exists on paper; the government hasn’t bothered to explain the delay on the ground.
Auto drivers in Karimnagar renewed their demand for the commitments made in the Congress manifesto.
NEWS | EMPLOYMENT
Auto drivers in Karimnagar marched from the Chakali Ailamma statue to the district Collectorate on August 4, pressing the Congress government to implement its own manifesto pledges to drivers — Rs 12,000 a year and a welfare board. The rally and dharna were organised by the Karimnagar district Auto Workers Welfare Association, led by district president Bommidi Srinivas Reddy, with office-bearers named on record. According to the organisers, they also staged a symbolic begging protest outside the Collectorate.
The Congress’s 2023 manifesto does carry these commitments: “Rs. 12,000 per year to all auto drivers” and “a welfare board will be set up.” It also lists a single-permit policy, annual settlement of fitness-test challans, Auto Nagars in major towns and a 50% discount on pending traffic challans under a one-time settlement scheme. That is the written record; the state has not published when any of it will reach drivers.
At Karimnagar, the association said they want the Rs 12,000 paid, a welfare board with Rs 1,000 crore, and additional support for families of drivers who died by suicide; they warned of protests at minister Ponnam Prabhakar’s residence and at the Assembly if nothing moves. Attendance figures, a memorandum and any official engagement were not documented in the report, and no response from the Congress government or district administration was on record at filing.
For the record, auto unions have been repeating the same demands since December 2024; BRS leaders even drove autos to the Assembly that year to underline them. Two years on, the Congress promise is still easiest to find in a PDF. The Congress government in Telangana hasn’t bothered to explain why drivers are still waiting.