The New Yorkers are waaaay ahead of you...
Posted on 08/15/2005 4:12:46 AM PDT by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island
Calcutta's famous hand-pulled rickshaws will soon be banned, according to the chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal.
The rickshaws had long been considered "inhuman" and did not exist anywhere else, Buddhadev Bhattacharya said.
The rickshaw, immortalised as a living symbol of Calcutta in films such as City of Joy, will be phased out in four to five months.
The hand-pulled rickshaw came from China in the 19th century.
Mr Bhattacharya said: "We have taken a policy decision to take the hand-drawn rickshaw off the roads of Calcutta on humanitarian grounds.
"Nowhere else in the world does this practice exist and we think it should also cease to exist in Calcutta," he said.
The chief minister said the authorities were thinking of alternative modes of transport so that the transition did not affect either the pullers or the riders.
"This involves money and training. It will be about the end of this year when the rickshaws are finally gone," he said.
Uncertain future
A recent study by a non-governmental organisation, ActionAid India, put the number of hand-rickshaw pullers at 18,000 with more than 1,800 joining the pool every year.
Many Calcuttans are uncertain whether they will be able to move around the city's old lanes without the hand-pulled rickshaws - particularly during the monsoon.
"When we have to wade in chest-deep water during rains, no other transport works but you can still find the hand-pulled rickshaws taking people from one place to another," says Dipali Nath, a housewife in north Calcutta.
Some trade unions are demanding adequate compensation and an alternate livelihood for all the pullers before their licences are cancelled and the mode of transport banned.
"We expect the government will not throw them into the streets and leave them an empty stomach," said Mohammed Nizamuddin , a communist party leader who is involved with the rickshaw pullers union in Calcutta.
We expect the government will not throw them into the streets and leave them an empty stomach," said Mohammed Nizamuddin , a communist party leader who is involved with the rickshaw pullers union in Calcutta.
You cannot make this stuff up.
They could have the cows pull them.
That's not the way governments work. They will ban the rickshaws and these guys will be unemployeed and their families will suffer. Dumb ass politicians.
Good thinkin', guys.
That's just what Calcutta needs- more unemployment! Good job, control freaks! yay!
"They could have the cows pull them."
Makes too much sense. Besides that, who wants to make their great-great-grandmother pull them around.
The article says Calcutta is the only place left with Rickshaws. If the price of gas keeps going up we may have to buy their used Rickshaws and put them on the streets of New York.
I didnt know Rickshaw operators were forced to pull them . Doing away with them on himanitarian grounds doesnt make a lot of sense if that is the job these folks chose. I wonder if we will do away with brick Laborers on humanitarian grounds. I bet a Rickshaw driver is in pretty good physical shape. I also wonder if putting 18,000 people oput of work is described as Humanitarian.
I have a hard time believing this is the only place left on earth with rickshaws???
Boats?
I wonder what the Communist Rickshaws Pullers Union charges their members for their dues, 5-10% of the gross weekly pay? And what exactly do they do for them I wonder, can they yell "Steward, Steward, the cow dung is too deep to run through with my bare feet" and they threaten a strike unless the Communist Cow Poop Shovelers Union make their members shovel wider paths for them?
No, they can't have the cows pull them. Cows are sacred animals.
I suppose they'll be coming for my Sedan Chair next!?
-Wen they pry it from the cold dead fingers of my bearers!
The New Yorkers are waaaay ahead of you...
I was quoting shadowdancer from post #3. I know they are considered sacred and find it ironic that you see pictures of some starving kid munching down on a single kernel of rice when there's 1000 pounds of steak standing next to him. Rather than watch my kids starve, I think I'll lure one of my "ancestors" just outside of town and have a BBQ.
> I bet a Rickshaw driver is in pretty good physical shape.
I'll bet he gets pretty good mpg and pollutes less than the average junk Toyota.
Boats?
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LOL! What are you? Some kind of trouble maker? I mean, there you are...coming up with a reasonable solution! ;o)
Obviously, the real reason is that the government thinks rickshaws make India look backwards.
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