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Old Delhi's rickshaw-pullers bemoan court ban
New
Delhi: Shock and nostalgia gripped Delhi's old quarters after the
city's high court announced a road map to ban cycle rickshaws from the
congested roads. The Delhi High Court in its ruling on Wednesday ordered
a complete ban on the rickshaws after an alternative mass transport system
is implemented in Chandni Chowk in the next six months near historic Red
Fort area and also asked the municipal authorities not to grant fresh
licenses. The ruling has raised the question of survival of thousands
of cycle rickshaw pullers who hitherto had been sweating it out on the
streets of old Delhi to make ends meet. The cycle rickshaw pullers, mostly
illiterate and hailing from the lower strata of society, say their families
will starve to death, as they, being unskilled, won't get any alternative
employment. "Our child will die, my family cannot run if the cycle rickshaws
are banned," laments Mohammad Jamil, a rickshaw puller. "If the cycle
rickshaws are banned then what is left but to starve. We have no other
vocation, as we are not skilled. There is trouble and more trouble. The
government is doing injustice to us," Sri Krishna Gupta, another rickshaw
puller, said. Cycle rickshaws have been an integral part of the centuries-old
settlement and its old-world charm. The thought of Chandni Chowk minus
rickshaw is something of an enigma even for the local residents. Rohit
Kumar, a commuter, says by banning rickshaws, the residents are being
deprived of the cheapest and the most common mode of transport. "The rickshaws
should not be banned. People buy so much from here. How are the poor,
who depend on the cheap rickshaws would commute if it is banned? Ok we
have a metro station, but how do we carry our stuff there? This is planned
to trouble people and nothing else," said Kumar. The centuries-old market
of Chandni Chowk was the main commercial hub of Delhi since the Mughal
era. Barely two kilometers from Sadar Bazar, Asia's largest wholesale
Market, Chandni Chowk is still one of the biggest business centers for
cloth, spices and steel products in the country.
-May 18, 2006
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