India News | Kejriwal Woos Auto, Taxi Drivers in Punjab

Ludhiana, Nov 22 (PTI) AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Monday had dinner at the residence of an auto driver, a group he is trying to woo ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls.

The Delhi chief minister said every autorickshaw driver in the national capital considers Kejriwal his brother because of all the work his government has done and added that he has now come to be the brother of drivers in Punjab.

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Kejriwal was invited for dinner by Dilip Kumar Tewari, an auto driver, at his residence. The AAP leader accepted the invitation and went there accompanied by state party leaders Bhagwant Mann and Harpal Singh Cheema.

Earler, addressing an 'Auto Samwad' programme, he promised to solve the problems of auto and taxi drivers if they help the AAP come into power in Punjab in the upcoming polls.

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He said before the formation of the AAP government in Delhi, auto drivers had to pay bribes a number of times from morning till night. His government made all services faceless which means a person does not need to make rounds of offices for completion of their work, Kejriwal added.

They only need to visit office once for a fitness certificate and the rest of the work is done by the government employee coming to the driver's house, he said.

The AAP leader said that during the Covid pandemic, the Delhi government disbursed a total of Rs 150 crore to the city's auto, taxi and tempo drivers by providing Rs 5,000 per month. He said this has not been given by any other state government in the country.

"Due to the unparalleled work done by the Delhi government for auto and cab drivers, every auto driver in Delhi considers me his brother. In the same way today I have come to be your brother. I have come to build a relationship. Make me your brother and I'll solve all your problems," Kejriwal said.

On the occasion, he announced the formation of a joint corporation of autorickshaw and taxi drivers, so that they can formulate their own policies. Kejriwal said necessary reforms and changes will be made in rules and regulations in Punjab like it has been done in Delhi.

The chief minister said the auto drivers have compared to mafia "but we openly supported auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan". He said if they were mafias, the drivers would have built big houses instead of living in slums or small areas.

Kejriwal said politicians were the real mafia, and the auto and taxi drivers were the victims of a corrupt system.

He asked the auto drivers to write down any problems faced by them, saying each issue will be addressed.

Kejriwal said that when officers sit in air-conditioned rooms and make plans, the problems become worse. So, he said, the committee set up by the Delhi government to find solutions to the drivers' problems had auto and taxi drivers as all its members, with the exception of 2-3 officers in it.

Even the decision to raise fares was taken by the auto-taxi drivers themselves as there had been no increase in fares for a long time, and this was implemented by the government, he said.

The chief minister said auto drivers played a big role by putting AAP's posters on their vehicles.

Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann also launched 'Ek Mauka Kejriwal' poster for Punjab's auto-rickshaw drivers and chief minister later pasted it on an autorickshaw.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)