Cycle-rickshaws being pedalled along busy footpaths in reckless abandon: perhaps it is this spectacle the Dhaka dwellers have been dreading in the city. In spite of the scores of irregularities and cases of flouting traffic laws, this was beyond the farthest corner of their imagination. Motorbikes speeding on footpaths scaring passengers to death have become a part of everyday life in the capital. It has prompted the law enforcement authorities to erect iron fences on the walkways to obstruct the bikes' movement. Still people saddled on the two-wheelers are seen trying to squeeze past the rows of the fencing. The scenes are troubling. But watching rickshaws with passengers move on footpaths in utter nonchalance is too much to bear. That the traffic movement would collapse in this awful manner had never occurred to even the most cynical sections of the city's residents.
During prolonged gridlocks with the traffic ground to a standstill, rickshaws, bicycles and rickshaw-vans are occasionally seen stealthily come up on the footpaths to make short-cuts. They move up a negligible length of distance. Few take these manually driven transports seriously. But when relatively spacious cycle-rickshaws boldly move along public footpaths shoving pedestrians into the corners, the view becomes revolting.
These rickshaws have been virtually declared as being one of the culprits behind Dhaka's terrible traffic jams. Many roads have been made off-limits to rickshaws. In this situation, the audacious movement of rickshaws on the city's footpaths will only vex the city-dwellers. The tri-cycles have already drawn public ire for raising their fares exorbitantly. Moreover, of all transports moving in the capital, they are the most habitual law-breakers.
Samiul Huq
Bangla Motor, Dhaka
Rickshaws on city footpaths
FE Team | Published: May 26, 2018 19:52:01
Rickshaws on city footpaths
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