Express News Service
KANNUR: Though they are making drastically fewer trips than before due to the spread of Covid, autorickshaw drivers are still reluctant to offer a ride to a passenger exhibiting Covid symptoms, especially when the latter asks them to go to a hospital. Not K Premachandran, though.
The 51-year-old autorickshaw driver from Vellur near Payyannur offers help to such people, despite knowing full well the risks. Thanks to his deeds, his autorickshaw with the number KL-59 K3957 has come to be known in Payyannur and nearby areas as the “common man s ambulance.”
It started when a pregnant woman who returned to Payyannur from the Gulf, got into his autorickshaw in March 2020. For the past 15 months, he has been carrying passengers with Covid symptoms to hospitals in and around Payyannur.