Three long roads of Dhaka city were kept off limit to rickshaws with effect from Sunday, July 07 in an effort to reduce traffic jam.
More than half of the population of Dhaka city belongs to lower-middle and poor income groups. People need transport that is affordable and suitable to them. Every day they face hassles to move from one place to another.
When one buys something to bring home, one needs a rickshaw. When one wants to go to an examination hall, one needs a rickshaw. When one wants to transport a patient to a hospital, one needs a rickshaw. When a family wants to join a marriage ceremony, it needs a rickshaw. Without making an alternative arrangement, restriction enforced by the city corporations on plying rickshaws will create problems for the city dwellers.
Motorised vehicles like CNG-run auto-rickshaws are not available when needed. Taxi-cab is also rarely available and not affordable to most of the citizens of the capital. Auto-rickshaws can transport a passenger to attend a marriage ceremony, a patient to hospital, a female student to attend her college or university. We know that public bus service is not available in all areas of the capital; whatever available is also not suitable for female passengers as these buses always remain over-crowded.
Now-a-days it becomes difficult to attend an appointment on time. Most of the people of our country do not have the financial ability to afford a private transport. Auto-rickshaws could be an alternative if allowed to import at reasonable customs duty and without any administrative restriction for registration.
A liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-run auto-rickshaw in India can start plying on road if one invests IRS 1,75,000 (equivalent to Taka 215,463) whereas it needs Taka 1.5 million investment for the same vehicle to ply on Dhaka street. High customs duty, supplementary duty, speed money and high registration cost cause huge investment in our capital city. If government withdraws all restrictions, the amount may come down to Taka 0.2 million only. It will be affordable to mass people. People can buy such a vehicle for personal or family use, or they can buy it for commercial use, renting it out.
Easily available CNG-run auto-rickshaws could solve commuting to a great extent. A CNG-run auto-rickshaw occupies less than half of the space a car or jeep does on the road. The decision makers of our country enjoy either personal or office vehicles. It seems they do not perceive the sufferings of the common people. I urge the authorities concerned to reconsider restricting rickshaws on the streets and also introduce more CNG-run auto-rickshaws in Dhaka city to lessen the sufferings of people.
Md Ashraf Hossain
Central Bashabo, Dhaka
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