AP disburses Rs.261.52 crore under YSR Vahana Mitra

Visakhapatnam For the fourth year in a row, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has credited Rs.261.52 crore into the bank accounts of 2,61,516 beneficiaries under the YSR Vahana Mithra scheme by providing a financial assistance of Rs.10,000 each for the eligible autorickshaw and taxi drivers.

Donning the uniform of khaki shirt of an auto driver, the Chief Minister participated in the Vahana Mitra event at Andhra University Grounds here on Friday and interacted with the beneficiaries.

He also sat in the driving seat of an auto with a lady driver and interacted with her.

Later, addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister said that the amount of Rs. 10,000 is for the recurring expenses like insurance, fitness certificate, and maintenance of the vehicle, which was promised during his 3,648 km padayatra before 2019 elections. He stated that the scheme was also provided during the Covid crisis, to stand by them in tough times.

Reddy urged the drivers to get insurance and fitness certificates for their vehicles, as passengers will also experience safe travel.

Recalling the three-year governance, the Chief Minister stated that over Rs. 1000 crore was spent towards Vahana Mitra, benefiting lakhs of drivers and those who are left out can still apply at village/ward secretariats. He said that his government is moving ahead prioritizing both welfare and development and stated that almost Rs.1.62 lakh crore was directly credited into the beneficiaries' accounts in a transparent manner without any corruption or discrimination.

He asked people to notice the difference between the previous and present government, where the current government is delivering welfare schemes, while the previous one only focused on 'looting and sharing' instead of serving the poor.

Hitting back at the opposition parties, the Chief Minister recalled that auto and taxi drivers have been looted in the previous government with taxes and penalties. Going into the details, he said that Rs.6.5 crore had been collected towards compounded fees, tax and penalties from the auto drivers between 2014-15. In 2015-16, Rs.7.39 crore, In 2016-17, Rs.9.68 crore, in 2017-18 Rs.10.19 crore and in 2018-19 almost Rs.7.09 crore have been collected.

Whereas under the current government, only Rs.68.44 lakh has been collected through penalties and taxes in 2019-20 and in 2020-21 the amount decreased to Rs.35 lakh only.

Asserting that YSRCP Government is committed to the welfare of the poor, the Chief Minister made it clear that he had honesty and commitment and doesn't bother about the false propaganda of Chandrababu Naidu and his gang, as long as people's support and God's blessings are with him.

The Chief Minister also sanctioned development works for Visakhapatnam during his visit.

Ministers Boodi Mutyalanaidu, Kottu Satyanarayana, Botsa Satyanarayana, Pinipe Vishwarup, Gudivada Amarnath, Vidadala Rajani, TTD Chairman Y.V. Subbareddy, MPs, MLCs, MLAs, other public representatives and officials were present.