Rickshaws, once again
Azizur Rahim peu / DRIKNEWS
Ten letters have been written by Mr. Sikander Ahmed of Niketon, Dhaka, and no reply? To reply the 10th letter printed in The Daily Star on April 3, 2008 (As I was not fortunate enough to see the previous nine) I felt the obligation to write something. I suggest we be more realistic and look for complete solution and understand that it is not about which group of people are bigger, rather it is about the fact that rickshaws are not making anyone happy. I had just written another letter a few days before explaining that we as citizens must feel the sorrow and pain of another human being pulling rickshaw which is by no standard 'humane'. Apart from that, I strongly feel that pulling rickshaws out of some of the major roads of Dhaka city has definitely made the movement of engine-run vehicles faster and smoother than they would have been had the rickshaws been left there. Do we even remember the condition and chaos on Mirpur Road during the reign of rickshaws before they were made off limits? I guess not, because we are happy. It is important to accept reality and not simply blame the good government for anything and everything. Being the capital city of a highly populous country, a master plan for Dhaka city traffic control was long overdue. How do we complain about the authorities who in my view are trying their best to come up with solutions but perhaps, take two steps back after taking one step forward because of fear of protest from citizens. With all due respect, I understand the sympathy he has shown in his letter for the poor rickshaw-pullers. But the fact still remains that Dhaka city can no longer afford the luxury of allowing irresponsible rickshaw pullers the license to move anywhere/ anyway/ anytime…well you get the picture. But I agree with his point number 4, where he mentioned that a seemingly double standard is often followed allowing some non motorized vehicles on rickshaw-free roads. This must be stopped immediately. The law should be the same for each and every one of us. Please think carefully. Unless we stop the growth of rickshaws now and stop rickshaws from plying busy Dhaka Metropolitan city streets, we will have no open space left for us to walk. Are rickshaws making it easier to walk on sidewalks where they block each and every entry point to schools, markets, offices, even hospitals? Rickshaws are very dangerous and we must come up with alternatives. Bangladeshi people are intelligent and I am sure we will come up with other options. But rickshaws need to be eliminated from our city streets, and quickly at that. No other country in the world is moving backwards and by supporting rickshaw's presence in a capital city we are taking that route. It is not possible to have both motorized and non-motorized vehicles sharing same roads. Dhaka city has not even adopted true lane driving yet. If sharing were to work, then we would not be in this miserable and chaotic situation now. So, please let us not get caught up in personal anguish and want to take out the group we hate; rather try to understand the intensity of the problem and take necessary steps, even if they are not the most popular ones.
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