Rezaul Hoque :
Recently two city corporations made up their minds to curb free movement of rickshaws on Dhaka’s key roads. Later Dhaka North City Corporation changed its position on restriction of rickshaws. Decision came on the wake of a day-long siege made by rickshaw pullers on key Badda-Pragati Sarani. Dhaka South City Corporation however has shown no sign to alter its position.
There is no gainsaying that there are too many rickshaws on the streets of Dhaka. And most of them are illegal. On many occasions rickshaw has been singled out for choking turning points and slowing down pace of the fast moving vehicles. Meanwhile, rickshaw has always been a source of livelihood for thousands of rural workers who throng to Dhaka everyday. According to Labor Force Survey 2017, informal sector employs 77% of urban labor force. And rickshaw pulling is one of the main informal sector professions. Back in 2014, I did a special story for an online news agency. Back then DMP imposed restriction on rickshaws on the key roads of Dhaka. Later this restriction was lifted and thousands of rickshaws inundated the streets of Dhaka, including the Manik Mia Avenue.
As one industry insider revealed to me back in 2014, there were 6000 rickshaw garages and 225000 rickshaws in Dhaka and around 800000 men earned their breads by pulling rickshaw. The number might have risen significantly by now. What is interesting both Dhaka City Corporations stopped issuing rickshaw license, the number is somewhere around 87,811, in the late 80s. In 2014, a valid license was sold at Tk 15000. Some owners’ associations offered some kind of licenses to rickshaws. But these are not valid licenses and only good at finding a lost rickshaw in exchange of a small fee if it went missing.
In 2014, a rickshaw puller had to pay Tk 100-120 for a full day shift and Tk 60-80 for half day. Right now a puller has to pay Tk 80-100 for half a day. Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies recently conducted a study on Dhaka rickshaw pullers, titled: “A Study Of Rickshaw Pullers of Dhaka City”. In that study 58.4% of the rickshaw pullers say they take up rickshaw pulling as no other profession was available to them and it guarantees more income in less time. The study divulges that on average a rickshaw puller earns Tk 371.70 per day and an average monthly income of Tk 11,151. It also finds that 91% of the pullers prefer the morning time to pull rickshaws. It is the busiest time of the day.
For my special story back in 2014, I interviewed a rickshaw puller from Jaipurhat who told me agricultural workers of his district go back to their native villages in November and July. When they have no seasonal employment in villages, they come to Dhaka to drive rickshaws. Rickshaw numbers swell in festival seasons like Eid.
When we take a closer look at the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics data on average daily wage of construction laborers in Dhaka, we will notice that average daily wage of a construction helper was Tk 414 in 2018. Meanwhile, in some selected industries (cotton, jute, matches, engineering and edible oil) of Dhaka, average daily wage for an unskilled worker was Tk 339.6 and that for skilled worker was Tk 414.4 in 2018. So this guarantee of earning on average Tk 10,170/ month ( as a helper) or Tk 11,151/month (as a rickshaw puller ) is drawing more and more rural workers into Dhaka. I would like to add that wages in construction sector are not paid daily and a typical rural worker has to put more blood and sweat into construction work than into rickshaw pulling. Since a rural agricultural worker can make some quick bucks in less time and less effort, rickshaw pulling is becoming increasingly popular among this type of labourers.
The study conducted by BILS also reveals that 91% of the rickshaw pullers take foods and snacks from makeshift hotels and tea stalls during their working hours. Often these makeshift eateries generate steady stream of revenues for some quarter.
Despite the fact that rickshaw pullers are not subject of any extortion activity, they somehow indirectly contribute to the rent seeking economy built by a politically blessed quarter. For instance, accommodation is needed for this large pool of rickshaw pullers who spend months after months in this city. Part or full house and rickshaw rents they provide may go to the pockets of this vested quarter. Moreover cooked food they eat may be bought from the kitchen markets that offer regular extortion to a certain quarter. So part of their daily spending is feeding the labyrinth network of rent-seeking economy.
Despite strong arguments in favor of rickshaws of Dhaka, unintentional contribution of Dhaka rickshaw pullers to our extortion economy makes the case of unregulated rickshaw pulling untenable. It is pretty much agreed that it is time to put an end to unregulated rickshaws on key roads of Dhaka. Policy makers should step in to make sure easy and safe accommodation for rickshaw wallahs, to tab on their spending so that their money is not ended up in the pockets of rent seekers, to create a database of rickshaw pullers to keep check the rural-urban-rural migration flow and to initiate programs at rural and urban areas for improving their condition and creating more income generating opportunities.
(Rezaul Hoque, freelance contributor)
