Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Saturday gifted a CNG-run auto-rickshaw, two- battery-run rickshaws and two rickshaws to three July uprising fighters to help them earn a living and become self-employed.

The vehicles were handed over to them at a programme at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tejgaon, said Prime Minister’s Assistant Press Secretary Shahriar Pamir.

The prime minister spoke to each of the recipients and asked about their health, families and livelihoods, he said.

Mohammad Aziz Sheikh, a second-year honours student of Social Work at Mirpur Bangla College from Lohagara in Narail, received the CNG auto-rickshaw.

Aziz said he drives a CNG auto-rickshaw to support his studies and family.

He was shot during the July 2024 uprising while taking part in protests in the Mirpur-10 area and sustained 36 pellet injuries.

The prime minister encouraged him to continue his studies.

Gaffar of Kushtia received two pedal-powered rickshaws, while 65-year-old Asadul Haque Bishu of Gabtali in Bogura received two battery-run auto-rickshaws.

During the July uprising, Gaffar regularly supplied water to protesters in Mohakhali area and used his own rickshaw to take injured people to hospitals.

He said he will use one of the gifted rickshaws in Dhaka to earn his living and rent out the other.

Bishu said he had been struggling because of a lack of employment and that the gift would greatly help him.

The prime minister personally inspected the vehicles and how they would be operated.

He also gave the recipients instructions on safely taking the vehicles to their respective destinations.

BNP lawmaker Advocate Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Abu Abdullah M Saleh Shibli and Additional Press Secretary Atikur Rahman Rummon were present.