Dr. Syed Nesar Ahmad Rumy :
Use of private cars as family vehicle is very familiar in Dhaka and other big cities in Bangladesh. Now private cars are no more luxury and it is one of the essential components of daily life of middle classes in Dhaka. Since the days of British colonial period private cars were introduced as official and family transport in present Bangladesh area. There were few cars plying in the present day Bangladesh area during British colonial period. The Nawabs of Dhaka and some others from Zemindars’ families were the owners of private cars. That time it was the symbol of aristocracy. Most probably the Nawab family of the then Dhaka had some cars during British colonial period. Horse-cart was very common in the then old city. People were habituated with horse-cart and they used to use this transport for their different purposes.
After partition in 1947 all the influential Hindu Zamindars left the country and settled in Calcutta and its surroundings. So the number of private cars got reduced. Even in early fifties of last century the metal roads were limited in number for plying cars and other motorized vehicles. Only in Dhaka, Chattogram and other big cities one could notice very few numbers of cars in the streets. But in the mid-fifties a moderate number of people started using private cars. So for the increasing number of private cars private driving profession started to get importance. Since then many people started appointing Chauffeurs for their newly purchased cars.
Then in the sixties the newly grown middle class started appearing a powerful social power in the then East Pakistan. And many of them got the taste of economic affluence and bought sedan private cars for using as their family cars, along with this event the then different government organizations have also bought many motorized vehicles for administrative and governmental purpose. Since then the roads of Dhaka got a new look plying a large number of cars and other vehicles. Along with the government/semi-government recruitment of car drivers many people started appointing chauffeurs for their family cars. And this situation is now still ongoing. Many young having driving license are now engaging in private car driving profession.
After independence of Bangladesh new trend of using private cars started in huge numbers of school, college and university students use private cars for their coming and going to the institutions. This is why the demand of recruiting chauffeurs increased. Now the situation is that many families are now completely dependent on chauffeurs. The schools, colleges in Dhaka cannot provide sufficient student buses for transportation of their students. So the anxious guardians feel pressure to buy private cars.
Different ride-sharing companies start functioning six/seven years back are also new phenomenon in Dhaka and Chittagong. Many people are now engaged in these companies and it has become a new sector of income generation of many. So many private car owners in Dhaka and Chattogram engage their cars in Uber and other ride sharing companies. As a result of this the demand of chauffeurs are increasing. Even the government decision of providing car loan with zero percent interest to the Deputy Secretaries and above is also responsible for high demand of chauffeurs.
In our society private car driving profession is not regarded that much respectable profession. The attitude of the car owners to the chauffeurs is changing gradually. In the western countries and even in Egypt there are no discriminations of social status between the chauffeurs and owners in social functions. But in Dhaka and other cities in Bangladesh separate food and sitting provisions are kept for the chauffeurs in social functions held in different community centers. This attitudes and discriminations are the picture of our present day social life. Always we are in high voice against social discriminations but in reality we are not following the social justice. This is happening all the time in our society. Now this present day era the situation has been changed somewhat.
We know many of our Bangladeshi youths in the USA have chosen Taxi driving as their profession and their reputation in abroad is commendable. Most of them are from middle class and some are also from rich families in Bangladesh. By doing this work they can also send money to their parents in Bangladesh.
So there is no valid reason to look down upon the chauffeurs in our society. Changing our mind-set we should treat those people as family members. They help us to go shopping malls, offices, schools, colleges, universities and also to the doctors or hospitals etc. So they have every right to be treated with dignity by the employers and their associates.
(Dr. Rumi is a retired civil servant).
