Covid-19: Ola launches fund for the driver community, CEO to forego one year’s salary

Ola, one of the world’s largest ride-hailing platform announced the launch of ‘Drive the Driver Fund’ under the support of its social welfare arm, Ola Foundation.

The fund aims to support auto-rickshaw, cab and taxi drivers, through contributions from the Ola group, investors and crowdfunding platform for citizens and other institutions. The proceeds of the fund will help towards the welfare and upliftment of drivers and their families who have been affected by the restrictions due to the Covid- 19 pandemic.

Due to the lockdown, the driver community has been finding it hard to pay for their family expenses without a source of income. Ola’s initiative aims to bring together multiple stakeholders in the ecosystem such as customers, investors and partner organisations to participate in supporting millions of drivers and their families.

The Ola group and its employees will contribute 20 crores, while Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO will forgo 1 year’s salary to the fund.

The initiative will focus on emergency support and essential supplies. Drivers and their families will also have access to free medical consultation. In the meantime, Ola Foundation will also take up initiatives to support drivers’ children education.

Ola also has undertaken measures such as launching a special COVID-19 insurance cover exclusive for their driver partners and their spouses.