Congress bats for industry status to travel sector

Hyderabad: Accusing TRS government of neglecting the problems of cab drivers and travel operators, the Congress party has promised to accord industry status to tour and travel business in Telangana. Addressing a press conference, The Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) official spokesperson, Syed Nizamuddin said that the travel industry in Telangana was worth over Rs 10,000 crore and it was only behind manufacturing and Information Technology (IT) in terms of providing employment. Despite being in such a large size in terms of revenues, operations and manpower, the travel industry remained in a state of neglect under TRS regime, he alleged.

Nizamuddin said that nearly one lakh drivers were working in Greater Hyderabad as owner-cum-drivers, especially for aggregators like Uber and Ola. However, both Uber and Ola were allegedly exploiting the drivers by not paying them the promised incentives like business of Rs 1.50 lakh per month. As against the demand for 10,000 vehicles, they engaged over 70,000 cabs which reduced the revenues and incentives for all. He said thousands of drivers, who purchased vehicles on high interest loans, were pushed into financial crisis. 

The TRS government did not react even after a few drivers committed suicide. Instead of regulating the aggregators, the TRS government supported giants like Ola and Uber while suppressing the poor drivers. Consequently, thousands of drivers are still forced to work under inhuman conditions to come out of their financial crisis, he said. Nizamuddin also slammed the TRS government for not passing on the benefits of increasing revenues from Motor Vehicle Tax to the industry. 

Post bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, he said the State became a major beneficiary in revenues from Motor Vehicle Tax. In 2013-14, the revenue in united AP was Rs 3,335 crore. In 10 months (from June 2014-March 2015), the total revenue for AP and Telangana was Rs 3,025 crore. Of this, Telangana government earned Rs 2,226 crore about 73 per cent or three fourth of total revenues. However, he said the same advantage was not passed on to the travel industry.