Only 130, out of 20,000 rickshaw-pullers of Barisal city, have driving license and only 12,000 rickshaws have license, with more than half of them yet to renew their documents.
The Barisal City Corporation transport section set a rule that rickshaw pullers and owners would have to collect their driving license and transport license from the BCC office for legally plying the roads, the officials say.
However, most of the rickshaw pullers are ignorant of and careless about the rule and the owners, managing the city corporation transport branch, are running those vehicles evading taxes, the officials have alleged.
The BCC transport superintendent, Badal Chandra Shil, says more than 20,000 rickshaws are on the city roads but only 12 thousand of them have license and number plate and only 130 rickshaw-pullers have valid driving license while the rest are running illegally.
Tk 320 has to be paid as the annual fee for the transport license and Tk 60 for driving license for each rickshaw, he says.
More than fifty per cent of the licensed rickshaw pullers do not renew their papers duly and these unfit vehicles and ignorant drivers contribute to the city traffic congestion and accidents on the roads, Badal says.
The BCC mayor, Ahsan Habib Kamal, says the BCC cannot take any step against the lawbreakers because of the pressure of the rickshaw owners’ association and workers’ union as they threaten starting strike in the city.
A rickshaw garage owner, Tapan Das, says the internal corruption of the BCC office discourages the owners taking or renewing their papers duly.
The rickshaw pullers’ union president, Md Manik, says the system of getting driving-license for the manually driven transports should be scrapped as most of these drivers are illiterate and poor and this is the only way of earning their livelihoods.
-With New Age input
