A Mumbai auto-rickshaw driver has ingeniously turned his vehicle into a pocket Marathi phrasebook
The announcement came a day after deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde handed certificates to around 20,000 auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers who had completed a Marathi language course in Mumbai. The government has since given drivers more time to meet the requirement. On Thursday, Fadnavis announced a one-year extension after a delegation of auto-rickshaw and taxi unions met him at Sahyadri Guest House.
The move followed the BJP-led state government’s announcement in April that such drivers would have to learn basic Marathi, with Marathi classes being organised and August 15 initially set as the deadline. Last week, state transport minister Pratap Sarnaik said the requirement for practical Marathi knowledge among auto-rickshaw and taxi drivers had existed in Maharashtra since 1989 but had not been strictly enforced.
He said the government did not intend to take away anyone’s livelihood and wanted people working in Maharashtra to learn and respect the state’s language and culture. The simple-yet-effective by the auto driver comes at a time when the Maharashtra government has mandated practical knowledge of Marathi for auto-rickshaw, taxi and app-based cab drivers in the state. However, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis subsequently sought to allay the concerns, saying the government’s objective was not to turn drivers into language experts but to ensure that they could communicate in Marathi for their work.