Govt fears risk of life: Rickshaw owners call for regularisation

Owners to build pressure, while govt adamant on eliminating all six-, nine-seater rickshaws.

KARACHI: Six-seater and nine-seater rickshaw owners urge Sindh government to regularise their illegal vehicles after the transport department decided to eliminate them.

The rickshaw owners held a meeting to discuss their problems with the traffic police at All Karachi Qingqi Rickshaw Association (AKQRA) office on Thursday. The association’s president, Syed Safdar Shah, told The Express Tribune that they are contacting the transport department since 2010 to regularise Qingqi rickshaw but they have not done it yet.



“We brought the six-seater and nine-seater rickshaws because they are safe and strong as compared to the Qingqi but the transport department and traffic police is not satisfied with it,” said Shah, adding that these rickshaws meet all the requirements needed by the transport department and the traffic police.

“We will meet the transport minister and the commissioner and build pressure on the government to resolve this issue within one week,” he said adding that they believe in dialogues and do not want to resort to holding rallies and blocking roads.

However, the transport department has decided to eliminate the six-seater and nine-seater rickshaws completely off the roads and further seal the workshops of body makers of these rickshaws across the province. The department is waiting for the completion of legal formalities required to seal the workshops of the manufactures, sources privy to the matter told The Express Tribune.

“We have issued notices to the workshops of these rickshaws and we will get legal powers in a day or two to seal the workshop,” said transport department’s official. The official added that these rickshaws are built on modified 125cc engines of motorcycles and they carry more than 12 passengers. “Just like buses they have introduced their routes numbers and they are putting minibus’ load on motorcycle engines playing with people lives,” the official said.

Provincial transport secretary Taha Faruqui said they will phase out the six-seater and nine-seater and have written to the commissioner to launch a crackdown against them.

“We can’t let them play with the people’s lives,” he said referring to an accident at Korangi Crossing in which 10 people were injured. “We are working on regulating the motorcycle rickshaws but the six-seater and nine-seater are completely illegal and will be eliminated,” said Faruqui, adding that the crackdown against the rickshaws and workshops will be started soon.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2014.