Withdraw ban on rickshaw

i) Prosecute the unlicensed drivers; and vehicles, motorised, and non-motorised, (more than 50 per cent each, as estimated). The roads would be clear in a week.

Introduce transparency in the registration and licensing sections in the relevant offices (computerisation is a quick and reliable solution). Transfer a percentage of personnel at each vertical level (entrenched kingdoms).

Issue (coded) ID cards to drivers.

ii) Fix the maximum quota of pedal rickshaws to ply in the metro area.

iii) Remove all road restrictions on movement of rickshaws. Huge buses have large footprints and are not suitable for the narrow roads in Dhaka.

The city must be made resident-friendly to the middle and lower middle class who use rickshaws and do not have private cars. At present only the car-wallas are given preferential treatment (I sold my car abroad before returning home, as I was aware of the public problems in Dhaka!).

Rickshaws are not the devil or the culprit. The administration and management are corrupt to a large extent; and we have unpractical ad hoc and long-term policies. There should be a code for management of overcrowded cities in Bangladesh; and the Do's and Don'ts should be followed strictly.

Our law enforcing agencies have no deterrent effect on the citizens. This problem is not being addressed squarely. Cheap popularity is not enough to be efficient. The city managers should be pulled up for working against public interest.