Not scrap but our lifelines: Drivers of gutted autos

On the Karawal Nagar Main road in Chand Bagh, the rioters had gathered 12 autorickshaws in the middle of the road and set them on fire.

Mohammed Ali, 35, an autorickshaw driver wishes he had died in the riots last week.

During the riots that hit different parts of north-east Delhi, at least 100 auto rickshaws may have been torched by the rioters. (Prawesh Lama)

For seven years he had driven someone else’s autorickshaw on rent. Eight months ago, he had bought the vehicle on loan from a private bank. It was supposed to free him. Now it is a mangled piece of metal, lying in the middle of the of Karawal Nagar main road among the rubble and other destruction. On Sunday, Ali bore a look of resignation.

“I was doing well and thought that finally it was time to buy my own vehicle. I bought the autorickshaw for aroundRs 2.5 lakh and was paying back the bank Rs 8,000 every month,” he said.

On Monday night, his autorickshaw was gutted during the rioting in north-east Delhi. “What will I do now?” he said.

During the riots that hit different parts of north-east Delhi, at least 100 auto rickshaws may have been torched by the rioters. People like Ali, who earned around Rs 15,000- 20,000 a month by driving around 100 kilometers on an average everyday have been pushed to the streets now.

On Sunday afternoon, Ali was with fellow drivers whose autorickshaws too were torched inside a parking lot on Monday. Rajender, 40, says around 300 autorickshaws were burnt on Monday and Tuesday. Police and fire officers are yet to release the official data.

On the Karawal Nagar Main road in Chand Bagh, the rioters had gathered 12 autorickshaws in the middle of the road and set them on fire. The fire department could not reach the spot on time because Chand Bagh was also one of the worst riot-affected area.

Rajender said that they were on the street to ensure that the government did not take their vehicles to the scrapyard.

“We are keeping an eye on the police to ensure that they do not take our autorickshaws as scrap. If they take our vehicles, there will be no proof that our vehicles even existed. Autorickshaws have suffered the worst in this riots,” he said.

Of the 95,000 autorickshaw drivers in Delhi, who are mostly migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, many of them live in north-east Delhi. The rent for a room and a kitchen in this part of the city, in places such as Karawal Nagar of Brijpuri is aroundRs 2000. Leaving behind their families, some autorickshaw drivers live in groups and share the rent.

In a city, where around 46,000 vehicles are stolen every year, many autorickshaw drivers also sleep in their vehicles. Some also rent their vehicle to fellow drivers to make more money. Drivers like Ali, kept the autorickshaw parked every night in a private parking lot at Chand Bagh.

“We paidRs 30 every night to park our auto. We thought it was a safe place. The contractor would even locks the gate,” he said.

But on Monday, someone jumped over the walls of the parking lot and hurled petrol bombs. There were other vehicles in the parking lot too. All it took was 10-15 minutes to destroy the vehicles.

Nineteen-year-old Sikander’s father Aslam drove his own autorickshaw till Monday night. It was torched right outside their house. “We rushed and tried to douse the fire but it was too late,” Sikander said.

Aslam has now taken a neighbour’s autorickshaw on rent and was out ferrying passengers.

“No one should go through this. Our life changed on Monday. I feel for my father. It must be so difficult for him to drive someone else’s autorickshaw’s to feed his family,” Sikander said.

It has been five days since the last act of rioting was reported on Tuesday. The government agencies have brought towing vehicles to clear traffic and lift the burnt autorickshaws from the road. The owners are unsure about many things now –- future, compensation and the next spate of violence in the backdrop of so many rumours.

In one parking lot at Chand Bagh, a gutted autorickshaw’s engine has a message in bright red font. It reads: “Sab Changa (All is well)”