A humane future for Kolkata’s rickshaw pullers? The West Bengal government wants to PHOTOS: SUBRATA MAJUMDER replace hand-pulled rickshaws with battery-operated ones. But the rickshaw pullers are apprehensive that they will lose their livelihood, writes Kamalika Ghosh he presence of the hand-pulled rickshaw even today in Kolkata perhaps encapsulates the exis- tential crisis that defines the city. It is a metrop- olis that still perpetuates its colonial legacy in its distinctive architecture, struggles to keep pace Twith the rest of the country and is marked by disruption and chaos. The rickshaw, therefore, is symbolic of the city striv- ing to come to terms with the pressing concerns of a mod- ern society. Efforts have been on to give the metro’s streets a more contemporary visual appeal since 2005. It was in that year that the erstwhile Left Front government decided to ban hand-pulled rickshaws, declaring the system to be a travesty of human dignity. Amid protests, the government paved the way for the death of the hand-pulled rickshaw by tabling the Calcutta Hackney-Carriage (Amendment) Bill, 2006 in the state legislative assembly. However, what the then government had not thought necessary to ponder on while trying to usher in change was the need to provide an alternative source of livelihood to the impoverished rickshaw pullers. The Bill was challenged and the Calcutta High Court decreed a stay on the legislation. However, the Kolkata Municipality hasn’t issued any fresh licences since 2005. The current government has modified the ban: it has decided to replace the hand-pulled rickshaws with some- thing more modern that would not tell on the dignity of the rickshaw puller. It was the Trinamool Congress, then the Opposition, that had vehemently vetoed the phase-out in 2006. In fact, its legislators had boycotted the Assembly sitting that discussed the amendment in the law. When the party won the Kolkata Municipality elections in 2010, the may- or, Sovan Chatterjee, announced the civic body would issue photo ID cards to the rickshaw pullers. With municipal elections scheduled for this year and assembly elections in 2016, the government’s decision to introduce a new vari- used to depict wretchedness, as in ant of the rickshaw, clearly aimed at garnering Bimal Roy’s Do Bigha Zameen, a film popular support, may not yield high dividends when the that dealt with the disturbing state of Saradha scam has cast a permanent shadow on the cred- poverty in new, independent India. ibility of the government. And how the new measure The 1992 Om Puri starrer, City Of would affect the rickshaw pullers and their families is for Joy, too recalled the travails of a time to tell. rickshaw puller’s life. But despite the negative portrayal in films Man power to battery power? and literature, even as the city has It is not yet clear what will be the replacement. Muktar changed its skyline, the rickshaw Ali, vice-president of the All Bengal Rickshaw Union, says has continued to trundle along that a two-seat, battery-operated carrier will be the proba- the lanes. ble replacement and hopes it will ensure better business. “There were about 6,000 hand-pulled rick- “Earlier the pullers earned ~100-150 per day on average,” shaws in Kolkata,” says Alapan Bandoyopadhyay, prin- says Muktar Ali. “Now they may earn ~300 because the cipal secretary in the transport department. “At last substitute would run faster. A new, faster model would count, we found around 2,000 still plying on the streets.” mean more passengers per day.” He says that the government has recently held talks with Strangely, there isn’t much cheer in the Market for 30 years now, has his own anxieties. representatives of the rickshaw pullers’ union and has Though the rickshaws have symbolised the worst in human puller community. Mansoor Ali is a septuage- The hand-pulled “Jinke pass licence hain, unko hi naya rickshaw sought a detailed report on the individuals who would ben- oppression, the rickshaw pullers insist that some people narian and has been plying the streets for rickshaw is likely milega. Humare pass to licence nahin hai (Only efit from the government’s new scheme. “In the recently have always considered them the preferred mode almost 50 years after he came from Bihar and to be replaced by a those who hold a valid licence will be given a concluded Bengal Global Business Summit, we held dis- of conveyance made a slum near Mullick Bazar his home. two-seat, battery- new vehicle. I do not have a licence),” he says. cussions with a company named Kinetic on new rickshaw “Gaon mein log bolte thay, Calcutta bada seher operated carrier, Indeed, many who have migrated from cities in models, and it looks interested. It has asked us to suggest knee-deep water, even people opposed to this outdated hain, wahan kuch na kuch kaam mil jayega which will ensure neighbouring Bangladesh do not have valid viable models. We are looking at interesting ones,” he says. mode of travel are forced to rely on them when cars are (People back home used to say that Calcutta better business documents to prove their citizenship. Most of Though the rickshaws have symbolised the worst in unable to cope with the deluge. was a big city where you could get some job or them will probably be rendered penniless. human oppression, the pullers insist that people have With the government’s proposal to phase out the man- the other).” He did not have the money to buy These unlicensed pullers are a big problem. always considered them the preferred mode of conveyance, ual rickshaw, a part of the city's history, rather a part of its his own rickshaw, so he rented one to earn a living. Isn’t However, Muktar Ali declares, “The rehabilitation pro- especially during emergencies and for the older people. In colonial vestige, will be deleted forever. Yet for a city that he relieved that he will no longer have the back-breaking gramme will include both the licensed and unlicensed rick- streets that are perennially crammed with heavy traffic, is desperately trying to grab on to the idea of a better, task of pulling his customers through narrow lanes? “Do shaw pullers. Our information is that 20-25 per cent of the these contraptions prove a godsend during medical emer- new world, it would have to take human development you think it is possible for a 70-year-old man at the end of rickshaw pullers do not hold licences.” gencies. “Yesterday, I ferried an 80-year-old woman who into account. However, while there is no denying the his life to get trained to drive a battery-operated vehicle?” was running very high fever to her daughter’s residence,” inhuman nature of a rickshaw puller’s job, the men need he counters, at once underlining the enormity of the task Anachronistic symbol says Yadav. to be assured of a livelihood once their current means is at hand for the government. Kolkata’s emblematic two-wheeled contraption has been a There’s also the infamous chaos of Kolkata streets dur- denied to them. And that is the challenge for Mamata Hari Yadav, who has worked on Ripon Street and New long-standing symbol of oppression and has often been ing the rainy season. With most of the arterial roads in Banerjee’s government. Sudheendra Kulkarni Shazia Ilmi Anurag Thakur Chitra Subramaniam Taslima Nasreen Shobhaa De T S Sudhir Swapan Dasgupta Ramachandra Guha Ashoke Pandit Sagarika Ghose @ SANJAY HEGDE Subramanian Swamy SUHEL SETH .