[sustran] fwd: Delhi's risky rickshaws

[SUSTRAN Resource Centre]

An article with a disturbing tendency to blame the victim. Interesting
nevertheless.


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BBC World Service News
Thursday, 8 June, 2000, 12:14 GMT 13:14 UK 
Delhi's risky rickshaws

By Mike Wooldridge in Delhi 
In a congested Delhi street, cycle rickshaws have to do battle with traffic
of all kinds. 

The cycle rickshaw may be master of the narrower alleyways of old Delhi.
But elsewhere, it's not transport for the faint hearted. 

I get tired and it gets harder. Especially in my legs
 
And with the constant stopping and starting - the evasive action as buses,
trucks and cars bear down upon often heavily-laden cycle rickshaws - the
men who pull them say it's by no means an easy way to earn a living. 

"It's difficult after four or five hours of riding. I get tired and it gets
harder. Especially in my legs," says one rickshaw puller. 

Sometimes even evasive action doesn't work. 

In areas around some of Delhi's most famous monuments and buildings, such
as the Red Fort, the rickshaw pullers compete for the potentially lucrative
tourist trade. 

One couple got more than they bargained for. 

"Well we just got hit by a car... but it's all right. The guy's a good
driver. They drive very precise," they said. 

Taking its toll 

Even if you are sharing in the risks as you take a ride on a cycle
rickshaw, as the rickshaw puller rises out of the saddle and strains to
haul you along, are you helping to perpetuate a demeaning form of transport? 

The argument is a long-running one. But some have a clear conscience. 

"It's the cycle which is rolling. It's not the man who's doing the job. So
I don't feel that bad about it," says one woman passenger. 

A tea stall near Old Delhi's railway station is home to many rickshaw
pullers. 

One of them, Ramu, has made his living this way for 40 years. He says his
marriage broke up because of the hardships he has faced. 

"Many people come to me and I tell them don't even think of pulling a
rickshaw. 

"I've wasted my life doing this. Don't spoil yours. Some listen - others
don't," he says. 

He also says more rickshaws being allowed on to the roads of Delhi by the
authorities doesn't help him - there's not enough business to go round as
it is. 

Traffic hazard 

The Delhi authorities say they are not just issuing more licences. 

They are also trying to control the number of unlicensed rickshaws. 

The police have been sceptical, though, about whether issuing more licences
will help regulate matters. 

They have expressed concern that in the end it will simply mean more cycle
rickshaws on the capital's roads. 

And, however "green" a vehicle they may be, in a still rapidly motorising
city that poses problems. 

"Anything which proliferates unchecked, it does result other issues.... The
rickshaw is one of the most unsafe things on the road," says Kanwaljit
Deol, the traffic commissioner of the Delhi Police. 

One cycle rickshaw puller pays a penalty just in time and extracts his
machine to ride away for another day's hard-won earnings. 

He is as likely to be called upon to carry children to and from school as a
tall stack of goods from one business to another. 

Now, it's not just his cycle rickshaw that has a new lease of life. 


copyright BBC News Online
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Distributed for the purpose of education and research.

A. Rahman Paul BARTER
SUSTRAN Resource Centre
Information services for the Sustainable Transport Action Network
for Asia and the Pacific (the SUSTRAN Network)
sustran at po.jaring.my,  http://www.malaysiakini.com/sustran