Regulators backpedal from banning battery-operated auto-rickshaws from Dhaka's perilously jammed roads as drivers run riot in protest on grounds that their livelihood would run into risk.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader Monday announced that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina permitted the battery-operated autos to operate on roads in the capital only.
The ban on the vehicles from plying 22 highways across Bangladesh will, however, remain in place.
He made the statement during a programme at Bangabandhu Avenue in the afternoon, as the protestors carried on demonstrations after Sunday's Mirpur mayhem.
"The Prime Minister's decision was made to alleviate the hardships facing low-income individuals and the impact of inflation," the transport minister explains the reason for retraction.
However, he clarified that these auto-rickshaws will not be allowed on highways.
Earlier, auto-rickshaw drivers gathered in front of the National Press Club and threatened to launch a nationwide protest on May 27 if their demands were not addressed.
Their seven-point demands include lifting the ban on three-wheelers, registering battery-operated vehicles, and issuing route permits and licences.
The Advisory Council of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) decided to ban battery-run rickshaws on Dhaka city roads at a meeting on May 15, pursuant to a court order made in the wake of umpteen mishaps and traffic impasse.
After the ban came into effect, rickshaw-pullers Sunday took to the streets in protest. They staged massive demonstrations in Mirpur-10, Pallabi and Agargaon areas, resulting in prolonged gridlocks.
Again on Monday, they demonstrated in Rampura-Badda, Kuril, and Khilkhet areas.
Four separate cases have been filed against protesting auto-rickshaw drivers with three police stations, including two with Pallabi and one each with Kafrul and Mirpur Model police station.
The cases were lodged in connection with the incidents of "obstruction to police duties, vandalism, arson, sabotage, and attacks on law-enforcement officials" during the daylong protests on Sunday, said police sources.
Meanwhile, Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana said Monday that the prime minister emphasised fixing a standard for battery-powered rickshaws.
"There are 2.0 million such rickshaws in Bangladesh. We don't want to ban them and hurt people's livelihood," she said, quoting the prime minister.
"Battery-powered rickshaws are found in many other countries. They can continue operations in our country too but there must be an overhaul to reduce its accident tendency," she said.
Reports said routes and speeds would be defined for them to run in order to avert accidents and tailbacks.
Analysts say the authorities took the wrong way round in driving way the rickshaws. There has been a route-rationalisation project, stalled for long, on introducing bus route franchise. Modern bus service by bus owners' public-private companies would natural make zillions of rickshaws and motorbikes chose their own places away from the city thoroughfares.
There are no data on the number of rickshaws in Dhaka but the ubiquitous three-wheelers earned Bangladesh capital a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for having "most cycle rickshaws in one city".
Battery-run rickshaws have taken off across the country recently. A number of previous attempts to ban battery rickshaws fell flat.
Meanwhile, several issues such as driving licences and causes of accidents remain a pain in the neck of many, officials concerned said on different occasions.
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