Staff Reporter : Experts in a roundtable discussion on Tuesday asked the government to arrange substitute transports before withdrawing rickshaws from Dhaka city.
“For tens of thousands of city residents of middle income group peeple, the rickshaw is the most important mode of transportation,” said Adil Mohammed Khan, General Secretary of Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) at the discussion.
The roundtable discussion under the banner ‘Dhaka city public transport and rickshaw: Reality, problems, and way forward’ was held at the National Press Club organized by Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS).
“If the rickshaws are withdrawn from the city before arranging substitute transport available, the middle class will buy private cars which will further increase traffic grid-lock,” Adil Mohammed Khan said.
Prof MM Akash of the Department of Economics of Dhaka University, said, “It is important to create employment in rural areas so that unemployed people do not rush to Dhaka to be Rickshaw pullers.”
The expert also stressed for separating lanes for rickshaws to control traffic gridlock in the city.
They also asked to fix the number of rickshaws.
The experts also said that the rickshaws are not the major cause of traffic congestion in the capital. Cars and poor traffic control system are mainly responsible for it.
They however, said that the battery-driven rickshaw is mostly dangerous.
Habibur Rahman Siraj, Chairman of BILS, presided over the discussion. BILS consultant Khandaker A Salam presented the keynote.
A Salam said, The government should think about the future of rickshaw pullers and their families in case of withdrawal of rickshaw.
“There are approximately 1,100,000 rickshaws running in the Dhaka streets while 2,200,000 rickshaw pullers depend on those in two shifts. Another 300,000 to 400,000 people depend on rickshaws for their livelihoods indirectly,” he said.
“Tk35-40 thousand crore is generated in to rural economy from the earnings of rickshaw pullers in the form of internal remittance,” he added.
Habibur Rahman Siraj said, “The roads without rickshaws similarly remain stuck in traffic jam. Sometimes VIP roads are caught up in even more traffic congestion. So, rickshaws must stay on the roads of Dhaka.”
Golam Mostofa, Traffic Inspector of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said, “Dhaka city has only 7 pc roads though 25pc are needed. When mass transportation system will be adopted in the city, rickshaws will be eliminated automatically.”
Insur Ali, General Secretary of Jatiya Rickshaw Van Sramik League, said, “The authorities should fix their numbers which will help eliminate illegal rickshaws along with battery-run rickshaws from the city.”
