[sustran] More on rickshaws

[hpp at vsnl.com]

I have been surprised by the public response (or lack of) to the recently announced decision of the West Bengal state govt to ban hand-pulled rickshaws in Calcutta.

One is not hearing the demand that the whole issue of alternative livelihood must be satisfactorily resolved before putting an end to the honest livelihoods of tens of thousands of pullers, with minimum disruption to the pullers.

The media had reported in the past that the Chief Minister's wife had protested against cutting down of trees in the city. Similarly, there were reports that the CM's daughter had complained against the removal of stray dogs from near their residence.

But whose heart bleeds for the rickshaw puller? After their having served the people of Calcutta, so devotedly, loyally and intimately, for so many years? Who will stand beside them now?

During the rains, during floods; carrying invalids and the elderly; carrying little children to and from school; carrying shopping-laden families; rickshaw pullers have been an intimate part of the daily lives of Calcuttans.

The leftist govt seems to have forgotten the moving portrayal of the Bihari rickshaw puller by the much-loved actor Balraj Sahni in Bimal Roy's film "Do Bigha Zamin"?

Is it because they are Bihari that they are treated so callously, despite their service to the city?

V Ramaswamy
Calcutta