Sujeet
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1462366,000900030001.htm
Kolkata to ban last remaining rickshaw pullers
Associated Press
New Delhi, August 15, 2005
Kolkata plans to ban rickshaw-pulling, a century-old practice that has been prohibited or died off in most of the world, an official said on Monday.
Since the end of the 19th century, rickshaw pullers have been plying Kolkata's narrow lanes, a practice that Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on Monday called "inhuman."
"It is bad for our image," said Bhattacharya.
Still, the pullers have resisted past attempts to ban their trade, demanding compensation or alternative jobs. There are currently about 20,000 of them in the city of 10 million people. Bhattacharya said the rickshaws will be eliminated in three to four months, giving officials enough time to find other jobs for the pullers, he said.
"We have to think of alternatives for those who pull the rickshaws, and also for those who ride the rickshaws," he said. A typical 15-minute ride in a human-pulled rickshaw costs 10 rupees. A 15-minute motorized rickshaw ride costs about twice that amount.
Authorities banned the rickshaws from the city's main streets three years ago. But most of Kolkata is a jumble of narrow, crowded alleyways, where the rickshaws are a cheap and convenient form of transport.
The rickshaws were introduced to the city by Chinese traders more than a century ago, and British rulers in Kolkata adopted a law that declared rickshaws a means of public transportation in 1919. China banned rickshaws after the communists seized power more than a half century ago. Elsewhere in Asia, most of them are now pulled by bicycles, or are motorized.
But the human pullers have hung on in Kolkata, which ironically, has been ruled since 1978 by communists with ideological links to the Chinese.
The announcement of the ban came as India celebrated 58 years of independence.