Rickshaws
It is heartening to see that this debate that I initiated eight months ago with the first of my 15 letters to-date, is now gaining ground on DS pages. I thank all participants whether they agree with me or not. Lately, readers from Khulna and Chittagong have joined in as have the venerable Messrs O H Kabir, A Husnain and Ghiasuddin Ahmed with many logical and workable solutions to our worst nightmarethe traffic jams, that often turn us to jelly.
Here are a few tit-bits on this crisis that may interest readers and authorities alike.
1. Last week on my way home at dusk, I saw an elderly gentleman being ejected from his rickshaw on Mohakhali Road. Reaching the spot, I interceded with the cop to let him proceed but all entreaties fell on deaf ears. Only when I blew my fuse and gave the cop a description of his ancestors in the coarsest possible Chittagonian, that he was shocked and taken aback, and before he regained his composure, I pulled the gentleman on to my rickshaw and made a clean get-away. He was carrying a white cane, but that made no difference to the cop or perhaps, he was totally oblivious to its significance!!
2. Banani is full of NGOs doing yeoman service for the poor and disabled. The NGOs hold frequent trainings, disburse funds and hold meetings to build capacities to enable them to (literally) stand on their own two feet. Some of the poor manage somehow by walking, but for the disabled, it becomes impossible because only the banned rickshaws are available for them as transport.
3. During my frequent walks (after being ejected), I always charge the cops for being unjust to poor rickshawalas by hindering their livelihood, while they turn a blind eye to hundreds of illegally parked cars. Their reply invariably is “I do not want to be transferred to Dighinala or some such place” My message to the Top Cops: “Please do not demoralize your force further, at heart they are also poor and you can see the clear sympathy in their eyes” as they puncture tyres.
4. What manner of men with sane minds would advocate banning a cheap, fast, non-carbon emitting fuel-less, environmentally friendly means of transport while propagating use of gas guzzling monstrosities, emitting foul smoke, with blaring horns and glaring lights, unmindful of oil prices hurtling relentlessly to $ 150/bll
5. When young, we all used bicycles. I remember even Mr. D K Power, the Divisional Commissioner of Chittagong, cycling to the Court Building in the 50s. I do see some people now using bicycles on my way to work. Unfortunately, most of them are the foreign staff members of NGOs. Can't our youngsters learn their good habits?
As I have reiterated in all my letters, there IS a solution to Dhaka's traffic jams enabling both forms of transport to function. Unfortunately, no one in authority has got the temerity to call it a bluff if they think it IS a bluff. It is not!!
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