Autos threaten bandh from 24th — if
Union leaders say they’ll stop autos statewide from midnight Aug 23–24 unless “problems” are fixed. The free-bus scheme is their main grievance; the evidence they offered was slogans, not data.
The proposed statewide auto strike is set to begin at midnight on August 24, if demands are not met.
Auto drivers’ unions in Hyderabad warned of an indefinite, statewide auto strike from midnight between August 23 and 24 if their demands aren’t met, according to a report on a Thursday conference at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram. The announcement is attributed to the Telangana Auto Unions’ Joint Action Committee; the report names no office-bearers and carries no strike notice.
Their list: set up a welfare board for auto and private-transport workers, issue statewide auto permits, and address what they allege is the Mahalakshmi free-bus scheme’s hit to their livelihoods. The same JAC and allied transport unions had mobilised in May on similar lines, including a demand for Rs 12,000 a year for drivers said to be losing income under the scheme.
What is on record: the scheme has been in force since December 15, 2023 on TGSRTC Pallevelugu and Express services for women, girls and transgender persons, and by June 30, 2024 the state’s Outlook says 62.13 crore trips saved Rs 2,142.83 crore in fares. The Chief Minister’s office later claimed over Rs 10,000 crore was paid to RTC under it. None of those numbers establish an income drop for auto drivers — that is an allegation the JAC made without data in the report, alongside an unsubstantiated claim of auto-driver suicides for which they want the Chief Minister held responsible.
If a shutdown really starts at 00:00 on August 24, commuters will need clarity. As of now there is no published strike resolution, list of constituent unions, or Transport Department response — only the warning carried in the report. The BJP and Congress are fond of shouting “freebies”; when an actual public service works at scale, they suddenly prefer math-free outrage over math.