Pune: Passengers And Autorickshaw Drivers Face Problem In Seven-Day Lockdown
Pune, 4 April 2021: While many passengers are complaining about the fare charged by the rickshaw driver, the rickshaw drivers are mourning about not getting any passenger in the city.
The municipal administration has announced the partial lockdown in the city. During this period public bus transport (PMPML bus service) is closed. Therefore people who don’t own a vehicle and have to travel from one place to another place in the city have to use the auto rickshaw for travelling.
On the first day of this partial lockdown on Saturday, people who had to travel from one place to another were charged more than usual by the rickshaw drivers.
Speaking about this, Tejaswini Jadhav (42), said, “I had to travel from Pune station to Hadapsar for work. As the bus services are closed, there was no other option than travelling by rickshaw, but the driver asked me for Rs 200, that too on a shared basis.”
Similarly, Nilesh Kadam (48), who travelled from Baner to Swargate has been charged Rs 400. Many passengers complained about the exorbitant fare.
While many passengers were experiencing this exploitation from the rickshaw drivers in many parts of the city, rickshaw drivers in the Pune station area were struggling to get passengers.
Nitin Tikone, a rickshaw driver from Kasba Peth area said, “As there is a weekend and the government has declared partial lockdown many offices also declared holiday for their employees. As a result, people are avoiding going outside. Therefore we didn’t get passengers as we get on normal days. Some of us are not even getting single passengers since morning. Earlier we earned Rs 1000 per day but after the lockdown, the situation has changed drastically. We were about to get on the routine but again the lockdown declared, hence many of us have to face a financial crisis again.”
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