BANGLADESH: POLICE IN DHAKA BEGIN ENFORCING STRICT NEW RULES ON RICKSHAW USE IN THE CITY

Record ID: 753479

  • Title: BANGLADESH: POLICE IN DHAKA BEGIN ENFORCING STRICT NEW RULES ON RICKSHAW USE IN THE CITY
  • Date: 22nd November 2002
  • Summary: (L!1) DHAKA, BANGLADESH (RECENT) (REUTERS) WS: RICKSHAWS IN BUSY STREET (0.06) MV: RICKSHAW TRAFFIC IN STREET (0.12) LV: BUSY STREET AND RICKSHAWS (0.19) HAS: RICKSHAW DRIVERS (0.28) SV'S: POLICE CHECKING FOR RICKSHAW LICENSES (2 SHOTS) (0.49) SV: POLICE STOPPING RICKSHAW DRIVER ABDUR RAHMAN AFTER CHECKING HIS RICKSHAW LICENCE (0.58) SV: POLICE OVERTURNING RICKSHAW (1.07) SV'S: POLICE GIVING A FINE TO RAHMAN (2 SHOTS) (1.18) CU: SOUNDBITE (Bengali) ABDUR RAHMAN, RICKSHAW DRIVER, SAYING "Police seized my rickshaw because I don't have a valid permit. I don't know how my family will survive. I don't see any way to survive. With the eid festival coming up I don't have any other job to go to. I am helpless now, I don't see how us poor people can survive." (1.43) SV: CONFISCATED RICKSHAWS LINED UP READY TO BE TAKEN AWAY (1.48) SV/HAS/SCU: POLICE LOADING RICKSHAWS ONTO TRUCK (3 SHOTS) (2.19) PAN; TRUCK WITH RICKSHAWS DRIVING AWAY (2.26) CU: SOUNDBITE (English) FORMER MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AFZAL KHAN SAYING "Rickshaws are environment friendly, they do not cause any pollution. At the same time they provide informal employment to lots of people. But with the city growing every day now that its a booming capital with teeming millions rickshaws are a real problem." (2.55) WIDE OF RICKSHAW "GRAVEYARD" FOR CONFISCATED RICKSHAWS (3.00) SV/WS'S/CU: PILES OF RICKSHAWS (4 SHOTS) (3.24) SV'S/MV: POLICE CHECKING RICKSHAWS (3 SHOTS) (3.53) RICKSHAWS IN STREET
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: DHAKA, BANGLADESH
  • Country: Bangladesh
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVAER7E9MDLGA4C7B4E2XUCEPI4F
  • Story Text: A clampdown on illegal rickshaws in the Bangladesh capital of Dhaka is making a small dent in the extraordinary tide of the three-wheeled, human-powered vehicles that flood the city's streets around the clock.
    Police in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, have started enforcing strict new rules on rickshaw use in the city.
    An estimated 300,000 rickshaws ply the city's streets every day. A further 50,000 rickshaw drivers bring their vehicles from the provinces when business slumps during the annual monsoon rains. But only 87,000 permits for rickshaw drivers have ever been issued by Bangladesh's city authorities.
    The police crackdown has so far seen over 9,000 rickshaws seized and impounded and nearly 22,000 drivers fined a nominal fee. The fine is only a minimal deterrent to drivers who end up touting for business moments after paying their fines at the courthouse even though repeat offenders immediately have their rickshaws seized.
    "Police seized my rickshaw because I don't have a valid permit. I don't know how my family will survive. I don't see any way to survive. With the eid festival coming up I don't have any other job to go to. I am helpless now, I don't see how us poor people can survive," Abdur Rahman told Reuters.
    This is not the first time the Bangladesh government has tried to regulate rickshaw traffic on the chaotic streets of Dhaka but past attempts have failed in the face of an overwhelming demand from Bangladeshis for cheap rickshaw transport and informal employment for hundreds of thousands of the nation's poorest citizens.
    "Rickshaws are environment friendly, they do not cause any pollution. At the same time they provide informal employment to lots of people. But with the city growing every day now that its a booming capital with teeming millions rickshaws are a real problem," said former member of parliament Afzal Khan.
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