Unemployment, Hunger and accumulating EMI’s stare at islands self employed autowallas
Unemployment, Hunger and accumulating EMI’s stare at islands self employed autowallas By Debkumar Bhadra The COVID-19 pandemic, associated lockdown and restriction on economic activity impacted different sections of the society in varied proportions. While the government is staring at a steep economic slide, the working class specifically those who have been working daily to make ends meet are reeling under abject poverty due to loss of job. The lower strata of the society comprising daily earners have been hit the hardest. Autorikshaw, Jeep, Taxi operators are one such affected group who have been at the receiving end since day one of the pandemic. According to 2018-19 edition of Basic Statistics there are 4738 registered autorikshaw, 31766 LMV’s including Cars/Taxi Omni & Jeep out of which an estimated 15-20% is engaged in commercial (Point-to-Point) transport sector, 257 Government owned State Transport Service (STS) Busses and 143 Privately owned busses ca...