COVID-19 ruins taxi drivers in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The COVID-19 pandemic affected all sectors, but some were more affected than others, who count on making a living have been the most affected.

The pandemic has left a large number of taxi drivers in India out of work. With little source of income for nearly seven months, his melee lifestyle for a lot of taxi drivers in this tech center.

Like almost all data-generating corporations that still operate in the way they work from home, 30,000 taxis rented through those corporations have left the roads, leaving drivers unemployed. Car rental through dozens of IT corporations in this bustling city is the main source of income for many tour operators and the source of income for drivers. Even taxi drivers who own cars have difficulty surviving. Its source of income was reduced to a third of what it was before the days of COVID-19.

Although the number of daily instances of COVID-19 has decreased particularly in the last two months, drivers feel that there is not much improvement in the terrain. Tourism is another vital sector that offers a source of income to tour operators and taxi drivers. is severely beaten due to the pandemic, they face a difficult period.

For 3 months, almost all taxis were off the track during the general closure and then there was a partial break, when taxis returned there were hardly any passengers, concern for coVID-19 has kept others away from taxis, although restrictions in many sectors have been lifted in the last 4 months, economic activity has not yet been restored to pre-COVID levels.

Taxi drivers made 10 to 15 trips a day, transporting passengers to and from offices, airports, exercise stations, buses, markets, tourist sites, hospitals and stalls on the outskirts. Hyderabad has about 120,000 taxis, plus 30,000 taxis leased through IT. / ITES. ” The blockade would possibly have been technically lifted, but for taxi drivers, the blockade is still continuing,” Shaikh Salahuddin, general secretary of the Indian Federation of Application-Based Transport Workers (IFAT), told IANS.

He noted that 5,000 taxis were travelling at Hyderabad Airport each day, however lately there are only two hundred cars on the roads. Before the pandemic, nearly 13,000 cars were in service in the tourism sector, but the sector is not yet open. , operators and drivers remained bankrupt. While other people began preferring private cars for fear of getting COVID-19, the demand for taxis has declined further.

On average, a driving force made 10 to 12 trips a day before the epidemic, but now it doesn’t even make five trips. With a source of income slightly enough to pay the equivalent according to monthly bills (EMI), ranging from Rs 13,000 to Rs 25,000 depending on the month, many driving forces lost their cars to be consistent with personal sponsors or returned taxis because they did not have cash to pay the amounts.

In addition to driver misfortunes, some app-based taxi operators have rescised rental contracts with drivers to take the vehicles.

Many taxis are on sale in designated locations in the city. The stage has forced many taxi drivers to move from their careers to other companies. Many taxi drivers had come to the city from the villages for a living, but the pandemic and the difficulties it caused forced them to return to the villages, says Salahuddin, who also plans to write an e-book about their problem. , vegetables or fruits.

Unable to locate clients, Janardhan’s driving force began working as a structure painter at a structure site. Travel every time you discover customers. Kondal Reddy sold his car to return to his village in medak district to paint as a tractor motif “I had no choice but to earn cash to manage the house,” he said.

Another Syed Moiz driving force also had to deliver his vehicle to a taxi aggregator, who works as a rickshaw driving force in the field to make the end of the month. IME as soon as the blocking criteria were relaxed. “The driving forces had not even begun to earn a decent income, but financiers began to collect THE IME. Then there are loan claims that the driving forces had taken out the era of lockout to make families work,” Salahuddin said.

The vehicle maintenance fee has also increased, as cars have remained idle for a long time. “At the moment, there is a slight improvement. With the current release of five and the reopening of cinemas, we may see opportunities for improvement in the coming days,” he said. He believes that the reopening of IT and other businesses, the return of business travelers and tourists, and normalcy in other sectors of the economy can get things back on track.

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