Traffic control and rickshaws
Sikander Ahmed, Niketan, Dhaka
In the name of traffic control, rickshaws are being banned from main roads, the latest being Mohakhali Road. This raises some questions amongst us, plebeians, on the following points. The total number of motorised vehicles in Dhaka is about 300,000 of which half are public transport trucks, buses, CNGs and taxis. The rest 150,000 approx. are private vehicles of the privileged class plying either empty, carrying the "bora sahib" to/fro office, the "memsahib" for shopping or the "chota sahibs" from/to school, occupying double the space of a rickshaw while carrying half or less of the load. The questions: 1. Are existing Dhaka roads compatible with this huge traffic? 2. Are they not contributing to air and noise pollution ? 3. Are they not wasting precious foreign exchange in burning imported fuel for avoidable short journeys? 4. Since acquiring a car is the first step in showing one's "social status", does it not contribute to all kinds of corruption (Definitely YES, as per recent examples.)Yet it is for just such a miniscule minority that a vast majority of people have to run a gauntlet with death every day. They include women, children, the elderly, the invalid, the disabled, the sick and people carrying small loads who risk death by being forced to walk on the roads (footpaths are non-existent or dug-up!). The authorities must answer a few moral and just queries before taking such absurd decisions. 1. Have they given a thought to the affect at the livelihood of at least 20-30 lakh rickshaw-related people? 2. If rickshaws are banned from main roads, why have the cars also taken over the bye-lanes for parking (visit Gulshan-1). 3. Those who preferred to use rickshaws for short trips, now take to the road in their cars, thus compounding the problem. 4. When will the authorities show some guts by ensuring that CNGs and taxis do not refuse short trips? One final point: If you think the daily jams have been untangled, just take a car trip from Gulshan 2 to Gulshan 1 and South Avenue any day after 4-30pm. You will be in for a rude shock and a long wait. I only hope that when next the streets of Dhaka are flooded and the motorized vehicles stuck in the mud, all the rickshaws will observe a holiday. Only then will their usefulness be appreciated!
|
|
