Subheadline: The welfare amount will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of eligible drivers aged 65 and above who are enrolled with the state transport workers’ welfare board.
KALYAN | September 7, 2026 — A Kalyan RTO scheme will provide a ₹10,000 honourarium to 251 rickshaw drivers aged 65 and above who are registered members of the Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Maharashtra Passenger Transport Drivers Welfare Board, according to the Kalyan Sub-Regional Transport Office.
The amount will be credited directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts, Kalyan Sub-Regional Transport Officer Ashutosh Barkul said. The cheque for the welfare payment was handed over to Barkul on Thursday by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik at an event held at the Gadkari Rangayatan auditorium in Thane.
The beneficiaries are drawn from the Kalyan sub-regional transport area, which covers Kalyan, Dombivli, Ulhasnagar, Ambernath and Shahapur. The office said the 251 drivers had completed 65 years of age and had accepted membership of the welfare board.
The Kalyan sub-regional transport area has about 5,800 members enrolled with the board, according to the report. The area has recorded the highest membership registration in the state, while the Kalyan transport department has also been recognised as being ranked second in Maharashtra for enrolling members. Barkul was felicitated by Shinde for the department’s membership drive.
The welfare payment is intended for drivers who have continued providing passenger transport services but do not have a conventional government retirement benefit after reaching an advanced age. The state’s announcement follows demands made over the past four to five years by several rickshaw and transport organisations for a dedicated welfare institution for auto-rickshaw drivers.
Those who raised the demand included the Konkan Division Rickshaw Taxi Federation, the Kalyan Rickshaw Driver-Owner Association, the Dombivli Rickshaw Drivers’ Union, the BJP transport department’s district unit and other local rickshaw organisations. Their representatives included Pranav Penkar, Santosh Navale, Ankush Mhatre, Shekhar Joshi, Bhikaji Jhade, Datta Malekar, Kalu Komaskar, Tatya Mane and Sanjay Manjrekar, as identified in the report.
The board was established following a proposal associated with Deputy Chief Minister Shinde, with the stated objective of providing financial support and dignity to passenger transport drivers in their later years. The ₹10,000 payment is part of the honourarium announced for eligible members. The Kalyan transport office said several rickshaw drivers from its jurisdiction had benefited from the scheme previously as well.
The latest disbursement places the focus on the financial protection available to ageing auto-rickshaw drivers, who generally work outside a formal salaried retirement system. The Kalyan office’s next step is to process the payment for the 251 identified beneficiaries through direct bank transfers.
