Sagar Biswas :
About one lakh additional rickshaws have hit the streets ahead of Eid-ul Fitr apparently to worsening the traffic gridlock situation in the capital city, whereas, the traffic department is not paying heed to the issue for reasons best know to them.
The educational institutions are closed for Ramzan vacation and street agitation programmes of political parties are limited in this holy month, but there is no respite from traffic jam.
Usually, there is huge pressure of motorized vehicles on the city roads. At the same time, flocks of rickshaws ply on these roads even during the rush hours chocking the wide roads. As a result, from tinny roads to main thoroughfares remain jam-packed almost whole the day in Ramzan.
The streets of capital city Dhaka are currently crowded by around 250,000 rickshaws, of which around 1, 50,000 rickshaws lack valid legal documents, city corporation sources said.
Senior police officials said the poor people from different parts of the country come to Dhaka to earn some extra money before the Eid festival. Of them, the majority is agriculture workers who come to Dhaka to join this informal sector on a temporary basis.
The Dhaka South City Corporation [DSCC] and Dhaka North City Corporation [DNCC] are entitled to issue license for rickshaws in Dhaka city. Though the issuing of new rickshaw licences were stopped in the late 80’s, the new rickshaws roll out on Dhaka’s roads without valid licences each and every day, the officials said.
“Despite a ban on plying of rickshaws on key roads, rickshaws have been roaming freely on them in the recent days. With little knowledge of different city streets and routes, and sometimes poor understanding of traffic rules, they make the city traffic worse,” Mosleh Uddin Ahmed, Joint Commissioner, Traffic Department, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said on Thursday.
The Traffic Chief said: “Police force usually remains busy managing the chaotic traffic during Ramzan. So, it is hard for them to keep regular vigil on rickshaws. We are planning to launch special drives along with Dhaka city corporations’ against illegal rickshaws.”
According to sources, some orgnisations backed by political hoodlums run the illegal rickshaw business in the city. They are: Bangladesh Rickshaw Sramik League, Bangladesh Rickshaw and Van Malik Federation, Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal and Bangladesh Muktijoddha Rehabilitation Welfare Samity, etc.
They are allegedly issuing rickshaw licences illegally, selling their number plates at between Tk 500 and Tk 800 each on a six-month basis, the sources added.
Locals said, the city areas such as New Market, Elephant Road, Green Road, Dhanmondi, Shanti Nagar, Mouchak and Malibagh are the worst affected ones where travelling is really difficult due to haphazard movement of rickshaws.
The New Nation also talked to around 20 rickshaw pullers who had come to Dhaka from different districts like Jessore, Gaibandha, Noakhali, Laxmipur, Mymensingh, Nilphamari, Naogaon, Tangail, Dinajpur, Kishoreganj, Jamalpur, Kurigram and Madaripur.
Masum Akhtar, who came from Dinajpur ahead of Eid, said: “I came to Dhaka a few days before Ramzan began. I want to go back home with at least Tk 10,000 on the Eid day. I earn Tk 700 to 800 running rickshaw about 12/13 hours.”
Dhaka Rickshaw and Van Owners’ Federation sources said, at present there are around 7000 rickshaw garages in Dhaka where about 250,000 rickshaws are kept. Most of the big garages are situated at Khilgaon, Malibagh, Azimpur, Lalbagh, Bhashantek and Diabari area of Mirpur.
Several garage owners said that rickshaw number surges during the big festivals like Eid-ul Fitr. The number, however, declines when the harvesting and cropping seasons come.
