COVID-19 Lockdown: Taxi drivers in Amritsar rely on 'langar' for food

The nationwide lockdown has hit the business of taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers who were left with no source of income. It has forced them to rely on 'langar' for food in Amritsar.

"Lockdown has put breaks to about 3000-4000 taxis here. We neither have money nor ration. We have to rely on 'langar' for food every day," a taxi driver told .

Many of the drivers live in the garage as they are not able to go to their native places due to the lockdown imposed to curb coronavirus spread in the country.

"I live in Batala with my family and now not able to go home. I live on rent and now my income has become zero. Some of the owners have fired the drivers and they were not able to pay them. This lockdown is not helping for us," Heera Lal, a taxi driver said.

Speaking to , an auto-rickshaw driver said, "We earn daily and fulfill our needs with that money. It has become very difficult for us and we don't know how long will it go."

The lockdown was earlier scheduled to end on April 14 and has been extended till May 3 to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

With 31 deaths and 1,324 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's total count of coronavirus positive cases rose to 16,116. This includes 13,295 active cases, 2,302 cured, discharged, migrated and 519 deaths, according to Union health Ministry.

( With inputs from ANI )