Looming ban: Protesting parked rickshaws bring Hyderabad to a 4-hour halt

Two-stroke rickshaw owners, drivers say govt depriving them of their livelihood.

HYDERABAD:

Two-stroke rickshaws brought traffic to a grinding halt in the city for nearly four hours by blocking several roads and intersections in protest against the government’s decision to ban them in Sindh.

On May 21, the Sindh transport department announced that two-stroke motorcycle rickshaws will not be allowed in the province after June 30. Last year, the government also stopped issuing them route permits.

The ban aimed to cut noise pollution and emissions as these rickshaws don’t use silencers.

Using their knowledge of the main arteries to their advantage, thousands of drivers parked their rickshaws at 9 am and clogged Pinjra Pur, Kali Mori, Qazi Qayum Road, Model School Chowk, Risala Road and City Gate areas. “There are at least 15,000 rickshaws in Hyderabad and over a hundred thousand people are associated with the industry,” said Afazal Beg, president of the Rickshaw Driver Labour Union, while protesting outside the press club.

They also blocked the Miran Muhammad Shah road outside the club, where union leaders addressed the gathering for two hours. They dispersed around noon when some journalists requested them to unblock the road in the interest of the people.

The protest was nothing less than torment for commuters - mercury rose to 46 degrees Celsius. There were reports that people were pulled out of rickshaws and that rioters came armed with sticks to ensure traffic stood still. Reluctant rickshaw drivers were also forced to join the protest.

Police were nowhere to be seen.

The union leaders justified this drastic move. “We are being denied our livelihood.” In addition to the drivers, other traders associated with the industry will also be harmed, said the union’s Muhammad Shakil. “Denters, mechanics, painters and owners of rickshaws all will become redundant.”

The union demands that the looming ban on rickshaws be withheld and their new vehicles be issued permits for another three years, unless the government helps them convert their engines to four-stroke ones as envisaged under a Sindh transport department plan.

“After June 30, we will stage a more extreme protest if our demands were not accepted,” Muhammad Yaseen Qureshi of the union warned.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2011.