Feature

CNG 3-Wheelers, Economical or Not?

By Muhammad Eusha

WHILE the public is tormented to the extreme by the most severe heat ever, accompanied by periodic frequent power-cuts, intense traffic congestion, price hike of everyday commodities and every other imaginable problem to push them to the brink of their patience, the tendency to demand unreasonably astronomical fare by the CNG 3-wheeler drivers seem to have been an issue enraging the public, especially the middle-class, for some time now. Inevitably, the community of those 3-wheeler drivers has earned considerable abhorrence in the recent past and it is incumbent upon us that we investigate the true reason behind the problem.

I had the opportunity to interview over hundred CNG 3-wheeler drivers over the last three months. They drove and I sat back behind asking questions and receiving answers which helped me develop a clearer picture of the problem at hand. Each of those who told me their stories blamed with sheer repugnance flashing in their voices that the CNG 3-wheeler owners were exacting a sum which was in turn compelling them to ask from the passengers who dare travel on those green auto-rickshaws for double, triple even quadruple the fare which the meter would eventually show. Despite the government enacting regulations to ascertain that the owners will only be entitled to 350 taka at the end of the day from the driver, hardly anyone seems to take any notice of it at all. Some owners are known to demand a sum as high as 800 taka per day, more than double the money the drivers were supposed to give them according to the government laws. The greed of the owners has ascended to such a level now that they are treating the drivers as mere money-making machines. Many of the drivers I chatted with said that they, having driven all day, were going back home penniless as they had failed to amass an amount which will leave them with something substantial after they pay the owners. Many owners are getting used to leading a sedentary idle life as the earning from one CNG 3-wheeler alone can, even in these difficult days, sustain a whole family of reasonable size! One driver, in particular, mentioned to me that his owner has not been indulged in any other business or service of any sort in the last six years and has been surviving solely on the income of the three CNG 3-wheelers he owns and lets others drive in exchange of a daily amount. There are many owners who own a stunning number of such auto-rickshaws! While the drivers are engaged in a battle of survival enduring the terrible heat, (it's unbearably hot inside such a transport due to poor design), humidity and pollution of the Dhaka streets, the owners are making merry and enjoying the fruits of the labor of others! Ironically, while the drivers serve as an intermediate medium, truly oppressed are the middle-class people who are denied the convenience of traveling on these 3-wheelers considering how expensive they have become.

The drivers planned protests several times in unison to bring this medieval-style torture to the notice of the government officials. However, their attempts were foiled by a much richer community of the owners who, as the drivers claim, evaded the inquiries of the questioning bodies without any trouble at all propelled as they are with the force of wealth they have earned sucking on the blood of the poor. All these pieces of facts aid us to substantiate the unreasonable attitude of the drivers. They refuse to take passengers in unless they are promised an unbelievably high fair and most often are reluctant to travel short distance. Even though the ineffective laws suggest, rather than insist, that the drivers should, rather than must, consent to take the passengers wherever they want to go, unexpectedly, the latter do not want to have anything to do with the police who can be informed of such conduct of the drivers. Each CNG 3 wheeler, by the way, as everyone must have noticed, has the police helpline phone number printed in bright colors on the back.

If this predicament has to be resolved, the government must act quickly to ascertain that the CNG 3-wheeler owners who are clearly violating the law are brought to justice. Moreover, it must be ensured that justice, after it has been upheld once, is secured and sustained. It can be said undoubtedly that if the present government is more interested in actually fighting such troubles that plague the city dwellers instead of being busy in changing names of institutions to flaunt their power, they will be able to earn much respect and reverence of the public which will indeed be of great assistance to them in the next election, which will, as they must acknowledge, come sooner or later.