Why ban battery-run rickshaws?

Some people often call for a complete ban on battery-run rickshaws and auto-rickshaws. In their view, these chargeable rickshaws are consuming electricity and if they are banned it could save up to 1,500 megawatts of power. Also, these vehicles are not safe for their passengers as well as other road users. But before banning battery-powered vehicles, we must consider why the number of these vehicles is increasing over the years.

Battery-powered rickshaws and auto-rickshaws have become an integral part of our rural economy. Banning them would mean making hundreds of thousands of people unemployed. These vehicles help increase the mobility of many people within a short distance. They make travel a little cheaper than human-pulled rickshaws. Most of our rural areas do not have adequate and convenient public transports. Hence, these vehicles are like blessings for rural people. They are now very popular public transport in semi-urban and rural areas of the country. If these vehicles are banned, our rural economy will immediately fall into trouble. If battery operated rickshaws are banned, it will shut down the companies which import and sell motors, batteries and other parts. The ban will eventually make a large number of people unemployed. These rickshaw-pullers are in general impoverished and these mechanised rickshaws are their only means of livelihood. So, banning battery-powered rickshaws cannot be an answer to the ongoing power crisis problem.

Battery-run rickshaws are environment-friendly and energy-savers. A fully charged battery-run rickshaw can reportedly travel more than 200 kilometres. So, instead of banning them, we should now move away from the human-pulled rickshaw transportation system, and replace them with improved versions of battery-powered eco-friendly vehicles.

Maruf Hassan Bhiuyan,

Feni Sador, Feni,

mdmarufhassanbhiuyen@gmail.com