Feeling thirsty? Airport’s auto drivers have water of love
CHENNAI: They may be much maligned in the city but auto-rickshaw drivers at Chennai airport are helping passengers, passersby and the general public quench their thirst.
The drivers at the airport stand, members of the Labour Progressive Front, affiliated to DMK, pool in money to buy drinking water. The 95 autorickshaw drivers spend 200 each and a total of between 8,500 and 13,000 a month to buy canned water. It may pinch their pockets, but the drivers say they have been providing people drinking water for free for the past four years because they felt they had to do something for society.
"When we saw public suffer because of lack of drinking water, we decided to contribute funds and buy water," said S Nagaraj, president of the auto stand association.
On a hot summer day four years ago, Nagaraj said, a senior citizen who had come to see off his grandson at the airport, fainted near the auto stand. "That convinced us we had to do something to help the public," he said.
The auto drivers take turns to man what has become a pit stop. Bus drivers and conductors on the highway halt to take water for their journey.
K Karnan, secretary of the auto stand association, said, "We pay the money to the association on the first of every month. We buy drinking water and spend the rest of the money when a member falls sick or has an emergency at home. The rest of the money goes into a bank account."
Mugilan, who stops at the autorickshaw stand to drink water every day, says the auto drivers are doing a service to society.
Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Feeling-thirsty-Airports-auto-drivers-have-water-of-love/articleshow/20389456.cms
The drivers at the airport stand, members of the Labour Progressive Front, affiliated to DMK, pool in money to buy drinking water. The 95 autorickshaw drivers spend 200 each and a total of between 8,500 and 13,000 a month to buy canned water. It may pinch their pockets, but the drivers say they have been providing people drinking water for free for the past four years because they felt they had to do something for society.
"When we saw public suffer because of lack of drinking water, we decided to contribute funds and buy water," said S Nagaraj, president of the auto stand association.
On a hot summer day four years ago, Nagaraj said, a senior citizen who had come to see off his grandson at the airport, fainted near the auto stand. "That convinced us we had to do something to help the public," he said.
The auto drivers take turns to man what has become a pit stop. Bus drivers and conductors on the highway halt to take water for their journey.
K Karnan, secretary of the auto stand association, said, "We pay the money to the association on the first of every month. We buy drinking water and spend the rest of the money when a member falls sick or has an emergency at home. The rest of the money goes into a bank account."
Mugilan, who stops at the autorickshaw stand to drink water every day, says the auto drivers are doing a service to society.
Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Feeling-thirsty-Airports-auto-drivers-have-water-of-love/articleshow/20389456.cms