The Andhra Pradesh government has disbursed Rs 10,000 each as an advance payment to 2,62,495 auto or taxi owners and drivers. The amount has been given as a measure to sustain them for another 4 months.
The YS Jaganmohan Reddy government has made the payment under its flagship scheme as promised in his election campaign. The YSR Vahana Mitra scheme was launched on October 4, 2019.
Chief Minister Jagan Reddy initiated the process of disbursing Rs 10,000 each to 2,62,495 auto/taxi/maxi cab owners and drivers during a video conference attended by all 13 collectors, beneficiaries and other stakeholders on Thursday.
The YSR Congress Party chief recalled that during his 3,648 km long pre-election padayatra across Andhra Pradesh, auto and taxi drivers had raised their concerns and after assuming power, he has resolved their plight.
“To ensure that no auto/taxi/maxi cab drivers suffer or is forced to take loans at exorbitant rates of interest from private money lenders, we have come up with this scheme, the chief minister said.
Though the government had to disburse the amount on October 4, 2020, on the anniversary of the scheme’s launch, the funds have been released 4 months in advance due to the lockdown. The move is aimed at helping families cope with the financial crunch.
Meanwhile, the Andhra government has also said that all those who didn’t receive the money last time due to discrepancies in account details and other technical glitches, they will get both the installments together.
“12,200 beneficiaries did not receive the amount last year due to technical glitches and discrepancies in account details, they will receive an additional sum of Rs 10,000,” the chief minister said.
A total of 37,756 new beneficiaries were added to the list in 2020 which took the number of beneficiaries from 2,36,334 to 2,62,756.
A woman auto driver from the Chittor district, Naga Lakshmi said that after her husband’s death she was facing hardships and took over the driving job.
“I started driving an auto 3 years ago. This money will help us a lot considering the losses we had to endure during the Covid-19 lockdown,” she said.
Other drivers too hailed the government and termed it as a timely help to the private local transport sector which has been badly hit by the lockdown.