Bullock carts disappearing from Rangpur landscape

Our Correspondent RANGPUR, Mar 31: Bullock carts are now on the verge of extinction in Rangpur district as rickshaw vans are replacing them in the rural areas carrying both passengers and goods to different destinations. According to sources, the bullock carts have decreased due to fast development of the road communication. Rickshaw vans can now ply to most remote areas of the district taking shorter time. Only about two or three decades ago, the rural people of the district exclusively dependended on bullock carts for carrying passengers or goods. In previous days rickshaws were not much in sight in the countryside because of the dilapidated condition of the rural roads. Their movement was mainly confined to the sub-divisional and district headquarters. Rickshaws and rickshaw vans started appearing in large number following rapid development of the road communication after the independence. Rickshaw vans are generally used for carrying paddy sheaf, various commodities to different markets and other places. It also carries people to different destinations. The unemployed rural youths began to show interest in buying rickshaw vans as a means of income generating tools. Sources said, a rickshaw van costs 6,000 to 9,000. One can buy it against weekly payments. Many jobless youths purchase it buy taking micro-credit from the local NGOs. The maintenance cost of rickshaw vans is very low, whereas a bullock cart costs Tk 50,000 to Tk 80,000 which is quite expensive. Another reason of the people's reluctance to use bullock carts is that rickshaw vans take 30 to 40 minutes to reach the upazila headquarters from the rural area. On the other hand, bullock carts take 2 to 3 hours.