Hyderabad: Hire vehicle owners press govt to effect revision of charges

Hyderabad: The government departments that hired over 13,000 vehicles of owner-cum-drivers have not cleared their bills for the last several months now. Adding to their woes, the Telangana Four-Wheeler Driver’s Association says that for the last six years there has been no revision of fixed hire charges for vehicles engaged in hire, and they have demanded a revision of hire charges for their vehicles from the State government.

According to the owner-cum-drivers, the youth of Telangana belonging to SC, ST, backward caste, and minority communities have purchased vehicles and engaged them as hired vehicles in different departments of the State government. The government was kind enough to fix a monthly rent of Rs 33,000 for every 2,500 km driven per month for private vehicles engaged by all the departments as per the GO. These rates were fixed for cars like the Swift Dzire and the Indica for all departments. Over time, we have been informally pressured to provide new models of Swift Dzire vehicles.

“These new model cars were priced 50 per cent more than the usual models and had higher EMI, spares, and maintenance costs. We drivers request that you kindly consider our current circumstances and increase the hire charges from Rs 34,000 to 55,000 per month given the current situation and economy,” said Shaik Salauddin, founder State president, Telangana Four-Wheeler Driver's Association.

The driver, along with the Driver's Association, gave representation to the special chief secretary, finance department, the principal secretary, transport, roads and building department, and transport commissioner.

In representation, the drivers associations also reminded the letters that were submitted on January 10, 2022, to the secretary of TR&B, on August 25, 2020, on January 10, 2022, and on January 9, 2024 to the Transport Minister, the 10 January 2022 Office of the Transport Commissioner, December 30, 2023 Office of the Chief Minister, and the 30 December 2023 Deputy Chief Minister, Finance & Planning, Energy.

Salaudidn said that the payments for the utilisation of the hire vehicles by the departments of the Telangana government are pending. The release of payment for hire vehicles is irregular; some of the vehicle owners have not received their payment for the last six months, some for the last 12 months, and then there are some who are waiting for their payment for the last 18 months.

“The per-month payment for these vehicles is also very low. We request the government to consider the current situation and increase the payment structure to Rs 55,000 per month given the current situation and economy,” added Salauddin.