Ranjit Kumar, 28, an autorickshaw driver of Rangatand area in Dhanbad, was leading a happy family life till March 21. Then things changed overnight.

He used to earn Rs 400 an average per day. Now, his income has dipped to a nought.

Things changed from the Janta Curfew (March 22) followed by the 21-day lockdown.

Now, Ranjit has been compelled to survive on khichdi for him and his family — him, his wife, a three-year-old son and a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter — from the government khichdi centre.

“My savings of Rs 2,000 exhausted in seven days of lockdown and now I have to fetch khichdi from the government centres,” said Ranjit.

He said that he had applied for a BPL (below poverty line) card earlier but never got it and thus is deprived of the ration being given by the government in the wake of the lockdown.

More than 20,000 autorickshaw drivers in Dhanbad and Bokaro, who were dependent on daily earnings by ferrying passengers, are facing similar difficulties.

They have appealed to chief minister Hemant Soren to provide financial help.

Most of the drivers — 12,000 in Dhanbad and 8,000 in Bokaro — are deprived of BPL cards and are not entitled to the two-month ration approved by the state government during the lockdown.

Chotan Singh, the president of Dhanbad Zila Auto Mahasangh, said: “The situation of the drivers is no less grave in Dhanbad where autorickshaws are the only mode of public transport because of lack of intra-district bus facilities .

“We will also write to the chief minister and the district administration separately on Friday requesting them to make arrangements for assistance to the drivers,” Singh added.