NEW DELHI, February 5: Their cause is the driving force and their canvas is the country. For these three auto-drivers from Pondicherry it is just another adventurous way to create awareness about AIDS, dowry-deaths, environment protection, drugs and importance of polio drops, among other things.D Prakash, S Jegadeswaran and M Raja, members of the Pondicherry's Auto Driver's Association are men with a mission. Riding on a Greaves Garuda diesel three-wheeler, these men arrived in Delhi on Tuesday. They have already covered 30,000 kilometres riding across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Says Prakash: ``We started from Pondicherry on November 5 and it will take us another three months before we reach home. In the 50th year of Independence, we decided to do something and with the help of Greaves, we have been able to do a lot.'' Traversing villages and towns, stopping at railway stations and bus stops distributing pamphlets and making impromptu speeches (between the three ofthem they speak seven languages), they have somehow managed to get the message across.
Says Jegadeswaran: ``Apart from talking to the people, we meet the officials concerned and they sometimes help us by giving us pamphlets. However, apart from that we have not received any government funding so far. We started from Pondicherry with Rs 10,000 that was collected by our association and donations by some citizens. Moreover, Greaves dealers and officers, who are situated all across the country have been very helpful in maintaining our three-wheeler and providing us food and accommodation.''
The men say that along with spreading awareness about the prevalent social evils they wanted to dispel the image that auto-drivers were not concerned about the society. ``We felt that we should also do our bit for the society.
We would like to do something like this again and reach out to the masses, especially the rural populace. But that is possible only if the government helps us,'' says Raja.
Says N.N. Murli,senior sales executive, Greaves Limited: ``We did not decide to help them to promote our three-wheeler. Since it was for a good cause we decided to pitch in and do our bit.''
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
