Three years on,welfare board still a distant dream for auto drivers

In what came as some hope for auto drivers,the state government recently formed a panel to study the functioning of a similar welfare board in Tamil Nadu.

Headed by the state Labour Commissioner,the study group has been told to submit its report by December 7. The seven-member group comprises Rickshaw Panchayat leader Nitin Pawar as representative of auto drivers, senior bureaucrats from the labour and transport departments,Congress MLC Mohan Joshi from Pune,among others.

“The proposal to set up the welfare board was stuck as there was confusion whether the transport or labour department should take its responsibility. In the meantime,there was change of guard in the state government following the Adarsh housing scam,which further affected the prospects of the board. As the issue of delay in setting up the board kept coming up for discussion in state legislative assembly,the government finally formed the study group,” said Pawar.

A delegation of the transport department had also earlier visited Tamil Nadu to study the working of its welfare board. After this,the top brass of the transport department came to know that such a welfare board comes under the jurisdiction of the labour department.

The study group has been told to study the working of the Tamil Nadu welfare board and evolve modalities for setting up a similar board in Maharashtra. It is also expected to envisage welfare schemes for auto drivers and taximen,and suggest possible funding source for running the board.