HYDERABAD: A year ago, Gyaneshwar B was zipping across the streets of Hyderabad in his new sedan cab earning enough for his family before the Covid-19 pandemic shattered his dreams of decent city life.
Road Transport Authority officials and the taxi associations confirm that an estimated 40,000-45,000 cab drivers have lost their vehicles due to the Covid-induced lockdowns.
“The situation is such that during the last four weeks, 97 cabbies lost their vehicles for defaulting on loans, many of whom were recovering from Covid-19 when the recovery agents came knocking.
We have verified this while we are now in the process of drawing a comprehensive list of all cab drivers who lost their vehicles since the pandemic,” said one senior official.
“Across the state, easily 80,000 cab drivers lost their vehicles,” added Shaik Salauddin, founder state president, Telangana Gig and Platform Workers Union.
Now, Gyaneshwar is often sighted at the Neredmet crossroads selling bananas to eke out a living after his cab was seized by the bank for defaulting on three instalments of loan repayment.
“I had taken Rs 2.5 lakh loan for down payment and paid 13 instalments, but it has all gone down the drain.
Now I am so much in debt that I can’t even think of paying Rs 75000 to get my vehicle back,” Gyaneshwar said.
From driving their newly-purchased cab one day to cleaning up lorries and rearing cattle in a remote village, life has taken an ugly turn for many cabbies in the city.
Their fortunes took a dip after the onset of the pandemic with many going through a long phase of no income, defaulting on loan payments and neck-deep debt.
Another such victim happens to be Raju Yadav.
After earning a decent living for two years, 45-year-old Raju Yadav shifted to his ancestral home in a remote village in Husnabad to rear goats.
“There was no work due to Covid-19 and no one was ready to give me work as a personal driver too.
I couldn’t feed my family and had defaulted on loan instalments for three months.
The bank seized my cab and slapped a case against me.
I was unable to pay the rent, leave alone fighting the case, so I shifted to my village along with my five-member family,” he said.
Cab drivers have been one of the worst-hit during the pandemic with recovery agents not even ready to give two weeks’ time to families of drivers who fell to Covid-19.
Another cabbie attempted suicide, while there are others who succumbed to Covid-19 leaving behind widows who are now haggling with banks to get some more time.
“After my husband’s death, two months of EMI is pending.
I don’t have money to pay and they are saying if you don’t pay we will take the vehicle and recover the remaining amount by selling it,” said 33-year-old Bhavani Taraka, who has a two-year-old kid and elderly parents to look after.
“I am hoping to clear the loan, sell the vehicle and start a kirana shop,” added Bhavani.