Trouble on the streets

The strike had an impact however. After a two-year suspension, the Dhaka City Corporation agreed to meet one demand and will issue licences at the rate of 1,000 a day till the end of the year. That works out at just over 70,000 and probably less if the expected hartals take place. If they not renege on their promise then, in total, 150,000 rickshaws will legally ply the streets. What about the other 250,000 rickshaws? They have been sacrificed, along with thousands employed in workshops, and restaurants. This would mean more than a 1000 crore taka being cut out of the rural-urban economy every year.

Shady deals
This is not an old-fashioned battle between business and unions. The rickshaw owners are at the forefront of the struggle, using the pullers as foot soldiers. Strangely, one of the owners' association asked that new licences be distributed via them, rather than directly to individual vehicle owners. Cynics might ask if this smacks of an attempt to make some side money. A lot of money.Ê If each licence were to have, say, a street value of Tk. 1,000, then there would have been a Tk. 6 crore cake to distribute among some enterprising people. The City Corporation has declined to take this route but it would be interesting to see how responsible the Ward Commissioners now behave.

Prejudice and the private car
Solely blaming rickshaws for traffic congestion is not credible anymore. It fails to explain the never-ending jams on the so-called VIP roads where only motorised vehicles are allowed. A haphazardly expanding city with no regard to 'master plans' is to blame. So is the setting up of shopping plazas and office blocks with no or minimal parking space. People spilling on to the streets from the side force traffic to the right.

A complete lack of strategic planning is the real villain.

Every year, nearly 25,000 cars hit the capital's roads. How long before we reach one million cars? Kolkata in West Bengal recently marked the arrival of its millionth car. Roads only cover 6 percent of their city. We have 8 percent. They seem to be coping better than us. Our government is rushing to inaugurate its first flyover this November. We are so keen, we are not prepared to wait for the right number of shock absorbers to be installed. In the meantime, Kolkata has constructed over a dozen flyovers, an underground metro system, bypass roads and more.

Nearly all Asian cities once had non-motorised transport. From Shanghai to Singapore, Bangkok to Saigon, Delhi to Rangoon. Now pedals and cycles are disappearing as countries motorise their economies. Our leaders want to join the club too. They feel embarrassed when they have to accompany a foreign dignitary from the airport. VIP roads have been created to hide them but you cannot miss the rickshaw. Poverty hits you immediately you set out of ZIA airport.

The rickshaw is the symbol of our backwardness. If you cannot get the real thing (getting rid of poverty), why not accept its substitute -- the appearance of 'modernity'. So we attack the symptoms, not the underlying causes. Always looking for the shortcut.ÊIn January, the city will be hosting a motley crew of South Asian leaders in a SAARC summit. So the city is in the midst of a 'beautification' scheme. Have you noticed the flowerbeds and trees being planted? The journey along the VIP roads is being choreographed, like the catwalk in a fashion show.

Who do we think we are going to fool?

Middle class follies
Recently, I read an article headlined "Ah! A rickshaw free city". It gasped with awe at the empty streets during the rickshaw strike. One interviewee apparently could walk ten minutes to her boutique. Normally the availability of rickshaws was too tempting and made her lazy. She would walk more often if there were no rickshaws around. Sure thing. I can imagine her walking in the monsoon rain or in the 100-degree heat of an April day. I can see her refusing the use of a rickshaw during the flood. Have we forgotten the rickshaw puller was the only thing getting through in August, either pedalling the tricycle or rowing a boat, ferrying passengers through sewage-ridden waters. People do not walk because there aren't enough pavements or safe pedestrian crossings. They don't like being forced onto the streets, dodging the traffic.

Some of the people rejoicing at 'rickshaw-free' days probably cannot wait for the arrival of the 'hartal season'. These 'holidays' conveniently called on a Saturday or Thursday become one long weekend. For the majority of Dhaka's citizens (the poor, the slum dwellers and businessmen), hartals are a curse. Where are they going to recover the lost income from that day?

Many middle class people do understand this. But others within this group are too busy shopping to notice the city beyond the mall. Perhaps this same bunch is cheering the 'beautification' too. This city will only be beautiful if we make the slums liveable. With proper drainage, sanitation, clean drinking water and properly staffed health and education centres.

Jobs before beauty
The irecent impetus for the anti-rickshaw drive came from two sources. It was "Traffic Week" and they had to be seen to be doing something decisive. Moreover, a World Bank mission had been in town to check on their flawed Dhaka Urban Transport Project. They showed their displeasure at the slow progress in withdrawing the rickshaws from the main thoroughfares. They have grudgingly 'extended the deadline' for our authorities to carry out the attack on the rickshaws. They may have to revise their calculations if the show of strength continues this winter.

Many Asian countries have built up economies worth speaking of. The ones that create jobs and alternatives. When we provide decent employment, we will not have to get rid of the rickshaw. The puller will only be too happy to pack up, go home and earn an income without such degrading and strenuous labour.

Our current vision is to see a minority of middle-class consumers in 'rickshaw-free' roads jam-packed with cars crawling their way to shopping malls, along boulevards lined with flower-beds. Is this meant to be 'beautification'?

Farid Bakht is a founder member of Futurebangla