Rickshaw-free capital
After reading Mr. Sikander's letter published in DS on May 9, 2008, I could not help but write once more on this subject.
Before I go on, I must emphasize that I personally think highly of The Daily Star and believe that it is an unbiased newspaper and it deserves the respect of the public for upholding the truth, transparency and integrity in news reporting and responding to the public needs in a fair and impartial manner. Therefore, I absolutely disagree with Mr. Sikander's comment on DS.
Having said that, we need to accept the hard fact that rickshaws and their negative impact on our city streets is massive. It is important to understand that one of the main reasons for traffic jams on main (rickshaw-free) roads is the long delays caused by rickshaws on other roads which create a tail back effect on the main ones. It is another problem that we perhaps have more vehicles on our roads than they can manage; but that does not justify leaving rickshaws free to roam the streets anyway they like. Dhaka is a capital city which is constantly growing and is in dire need to have an upgrade to its transport system. Among other things its roads must be made off limits to rickshaws. As I have mentioned several times before, it is not feasible to have both motorized vehicles and rickshaws share the same roads. Firstly, Dhaka's streets are not wide enough and our infrastructure of roads does not provide sufficient space for rickshaws to share the road with motorized vehicles. Besides, it is nearly impossible to train the large number of rickshaw pullers to stay on the left side of the roads and let the vehicles pass by. There is also the danger of accidents with having rickshaws run alongside motor vehicles. If we take an unbiased look at accidents with rickshaws, we will find that in most cases the cause of accident was the careless rickshaw puller and the suffering was to the poor passengers and often the puller himself. As for solution to the transport problem of vast middle/low income people (like myself) who rely on rickshaws, we could suggest more public busses to be put on roads by both the government and the private sector. Besides, why can't we dream of a mass transit system in our city like metro-rail? I know we are a poor nation and it truly is a dream at this point. Of course not all are in dreams, as there once was a time when imagining the Mirpur Road without rickshaws was unthinkable; but now we live in the realty of a rickshaw-free Mirpur Road, thanks to some visionary thinking on the part of the then government. At the moment, we must take stern steps for removing rickshaws from our streets in quick phases and simultaneously contemplate providing ways of transport for the people who currently use rickshaws. I am sure, once rickshaws are not there; other forms of transport will become affordable with competition and the demand of the market. Additionally, people who used to pull rickshaws will join the ever increasing demand for workers at our growing garment and other export oriented industries. The government can even subsidize industrial projects initiated by entrepreneurs who will employ current rickshaw pullers. My point is we must as educated citizens think of ways to get these unfortunate people who have dragged themselves into this highly inhuman job of rickshaw pulling, out of their misery and provide them with a more respectable form of living.
So let us all pray that specific steps will be undertaken very soon to begin the process of elimination of rickshaws from Dhaka metropolitan city streets!!
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