HYDERABAD: Can there be free education for girls in private schools, asks 52-year-old Allakosa Raju, an autorickshaw driver plying his vehicle every day from the wholesale Monda Market in Secunderabad. Raju’s response came when asked what his expectations are from the Union Budget 2020.
His brings in mostly small-time vendors who come to pick up vegetables from Monday Market and sell them in their respective areas. After dropping them at the market, he picks up regular passengers. He has been doing this since last 12 years earning, on an average, Rs 600 to Rs 800 a day and educating his three daughters studying in tenth, eighth and seventh in a private school. His wife is a homemaker.
Raju is a smart worker who started his career as a helper in a kirana shop. He soon realised there was not much earning in the shop and learnt to drive an auto rickshaw. He works 365 days a year, unless he or his wife falls ill. Raju lived in Sitaphalmandi for a very long time but recently moved to Dammaiguda near ECIL.
He found it difficult paying the monthly rent of Rs 4,000 in Sitaphalmandi and educate his daughters too. His rent now is Rs 1,500. Most of his monthly income of Rs 20,000 goes towards educating his daughters, and the rest for groceries and rent.
As how his business is, Raju says as weekly vegetable markets have started in many localities, not many vendors are coming to Monday Market to buy vegetables.
He complains of Ola cabs and autos affecting the volume of his business. Asked about his savings, he says, “I am educating my children so that they can have a better life compared to what me and my wife have gone through. I am sending them to a private school because they get a better education there. The daily use groceries, apart from soaps and detergents, have become very expensive.
My fuel prices too have been rising all the time. Luckily, it is my own auto, which I bought taking bank loan. Otherwise, it would have been very difficult for me to pay daily rent for the auto.
When asked what his expectations from the government and coming budget are, he says, “We want a budget that makes the common man’s life easier. Why are rates of everything going up; fuel price is high, school fees are high. Can we have a free education for girls in private schools?”
