Its meter down for Motorcycle pilots of Canacona, Covid-19 put breaks on rides

Goemkapronn desk
CANACONA: Covid-19 pandemic since last one and half year has lead the motorcycle pilots in Canacona to the path of starvation virtually, and with bleak chances of the pandemic ending soon the about hundred pilots in the taluka and their families look at dark days ahead too.
Many of the about hundred pilots this correspondent spoke to expressed their sadness over the spread and the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in the world, but they also showed concern over their and their families survival as they say they are the only bread earners in their family and there is no money to buy any.
Many said that they just come to their respective stands as usual early in the morning thinking that today will be the usual day when they will have enough rides but since last one and half years not even on a single day we had more than two rides in a day, some just go without a ride for the entire day they lamented.
President of all Canacona pilot union Santosh Komarpant speaking to Goemkarponn informed that they have lost more than 75 per cent of the usual business and it’s now not even hand to mouth existence for their families.
“The customers have drastically reduced, petrol has increased from about 60 a litre to almost hundred a litre, oil, maintenance, spare parts, insurance everything has become expensive, but no one is willing to give a thought to this, customers are not willing to pay more as they say that their condition is similar to ours” informed Komarpant.
When this correspondent spoke to the other pilots, most agreed that riding two-wheelers are the only skill they know, and they never even dreamt that a condition similar to this will ever arise.
“Our children are schooling; they need mobile, money to recharge mobile data packs, the prices of groceries, vegetables, fruits and other essential items have skyrocketed, it’s time for everyone to think about how on earth our families and we can survive in such situations,” lamented another.
“We got some financial assistance once from the government a few months back it was too small to last even for half a month,” informed another pilot who plies his trade at Chaudi.