A welfare payment of ₹10,000 has been announced for 251 autorickshaw drivers aged 65 and above who are registered members of the Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Maharashtra Passenger Transport Drivers Welfare Board in the Kalyan Regional Transport Office area. The amount will be transferred directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts, according to Kalyan Deputy Regional Transport Officer Ashutosh Barkul.
A cheque for the honorarium was handed over to Barkul on Thursday by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik at an event held at Gadkari Rangayatan in Thane. The payment is intended for eligible welfare-board members operating in the Kalyan RTO jurisdiction, which includes Kalyan, Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath and Shahapur.
The Kalyan RTO region has around 5,800 members enrolled in the Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Maharashtra Passenger Transport Drivers Welfare Board, according to the report. The region has recorded the highest membership registration in the state, and the Kalyan Regional Transport Office has been recognised as the second-highest performing office in Maharashtra for enrolling members.
Barkul was also felicitated by Shinde for the enrolment performance during the Thane event. The report said that several autorickshaw drivers from the Kalyan RTO area had previously received the honorarium under the welfare initiative.
The welfare board was established following demands from autorickshaw and taxi organisations for institutional support for drivers in their later years. Representatives of the Konkan Division Rickshaw-Taxi Federation, Kalyan’s rickshaw driver-owner association, the Dombivli rickshaw drivers’ union and other transport organisations had sought the creation of a welfare mechanism over the past four to five years.
Autorickshaw drivers generally do not receive a conventional government retirement benefit after leaving passenger transport work because of age, according to the report. The welfare fund was announced as a means of providing financial support to drivers after years of passenger service. Shinde had proposed the initiative, while Sarnaik is now advancing its implementation, the report said.
The immediate disbursement announced for the 251 eligible members amounts to ₹25.1 lakh in total. The next stated step is the direct transfer of the ₹10,000 payments into the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
