'World-class' Delhi can't tolerate cycle rickshaw

By Gaurav Sharma
02 Feb 2010


Confiscated rickshaws are dumped at MCD’s store before being dismantled

In order to accomplish their desire to make Indian Capital a 'world-class' city, the elitist and myopic administrators of Delhi are pushing environmental friendly cycle rickshaw out of city to increase space for swelling number of polluting cars.

Sitting hunched with face cupped in his hands, pensive looking Dharmendra was restless. He would often rise on his toes to have a glance at his confiscated cycle rickshaw languishing in the backyard of walled MCD’s (Municipal Council of Delhi) rickshaw store. A sense of gloom and doom had descended upon him as he had been stripped of his only source of frugal subsistence in the city which cares only for the rich and the powerful.

The confiscation of rickshaw was a double whammy to his insurmountable problems. His wife, who had developed some complications during labour, was in dire need of blood. To save bus fare, poor Dharmendra opted to ride his cycle rickshaw to the blood bank. Caught unaware of the MCD’s rickshaw confiscation drive, he was nabbed on the way by Delhi Police and MCD officials and ended up losing his rickshaw before reaching his destination.

That day, nearly 150 cycle-rickshaws were impounded from the same area and dumped into the MCD’s rickshaw store which looks like a junkyard. Dreading over the prospect of not getting his rickshaw back, Dharmendra said, ‘How will I get the rickshaw back? I don’t have enough money to pay the heavy penalty or grease MCD officials’ palms”. His worry was not without reason. MCD, as a policy, dismantles the confiscated rickshaw, if the owner/puller fails to pay penalty within stipulated period.


Delhi’s administrators and the elites, who have considerable influence over policy making and public opinion, believe that cycle-rickshaws are an eyesore amongst shining cars and not eligible to ply on the Capital’s roads because they cause inconvenience to cars and other vehicles.

Ferrying people in their pedal powered three-wheelers, cycle-rickshaw pullers provide the cheapest mode of transportation in the Capital city of India. For elders, women and students, rickshaw is an easily available and reliable source of movement.


“There are areas where buses and autos do not ply and rickshaws are the only way of transportation in such areas. On the sprawling North Campus of Delhi University, rickshaw is essential for many students to move around,” says Vaibhav, a student of city’s Hansraj College.

New Delhi is getting ready to host 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the ‘city beautification drive’ for the Games has become a tool for these administrators to destroy shelters and livelihoods of poor rickshaw and handcart pullers. If the judiciary, which has often come to the rescue of the poor and marginalized of India, doesn’t put brakes to such drives, nearly 6,00,000 cycle-rickshaw pullers and their more than 2 million dependents, will lose their only source of livelihood. “Government should think of ways to spruce up the city rather than banning cycle-rickshaws. The traffic problem is not caused by cycle-rickshaws alone,” Vaibhav says.

There are many citizens who agree with Vaibhav. According to them, these non-motorized vehicles do not create as much problem as the motorized vehicles which cause fatal accidents, and are environmental hazards. “When the whole world is worried about the catastrophic climate change, these eco-friendly vehicles should have found government support and encouragement rather than wrath,” they say.

Ironically, the efforts of destitute are always disparaged in a country which is in awe of handful of elites. The Delhi administration is notorious for harassing, fleecing and hounding the poor migrants from other parts of India who earn their livelihood from rickshaw-pulling and street vending. The confiscation drives, daily assaults, extortion and sheer apathy of Delhi administration have brought misery to thousands of such poor and marginalized people.

The laws of the land are no less discriminating. According to the Cycle-Rickshaw Bye-Laws of 1960, “No person shall keep or ply or hire a cycle-rickshaw in Delhi unless he himself is the owner thereof and holds a license. No person will be granted more than one such license.”

The above clause reflects sheer injustice meted out to rickshaw pullers. A person or a company may own a whole fleet of cars, trucks, or even airplanes but owning more the one rickshaw will invite wrath of administration. On top of that acquiring that single licence is a Herculean task as licenses are not given round theyear. The MCD, at its discretion and convenience, decides the period for accepting the applications for license.

The MCD justifies this inane clause in the name of protecting rickshaw pullers from the greed of rickshaw owners who hire out their rickshaws to the pullers. According to MCD, these owners act as ‘rickshaw mafia’ and charge high rents of Rs. 40 to 50 per day from the rickshaw pullers.

However, the fact is MCD officials are hand-in-glove with such rickshaw mafia, many of them petty entrepreneurs who own fleets ranging from five to more than a thousand rickshaws. To acquire license for several rickshaws in bulk, owners have to grease the palms of MCD employees who issue licenses in the name of real or imaginary rickshaw pullers.

Narayan (name changed), who owns 45 rickshaws, says, “MCD officials would not make money if they legalise rickshaw plying business. First they ask us for bribes to issue licenses and then extort money from the puller because he is not the registered owner. Even after fulfilling their monetary appetite, they assault the rickshaw-pullers and confiscate the rickshaw to keep us on toes.”

Laxman, a rickshaw puller, says, ‘It does not help even if you are a licensed puller. The licensed rickshaw is also impounded without any reason. I hold a license but it has expired as I could not renew it. The MCD has stopped renewing license.”

“Driving a car without a license and putting others’ life at risk amounts to a penalty of few hundred rupees but riding a rickshaw without license invites confiscation. On top of it, the MCD officials often crush the confiscated rickshaws to no use,” rues Laxman.

Not all MCD officials are indifferent to the plight of rickshaw pullers. But they claim to be working under pressure from higher-ups. An MCD official who is not authorized to talk to media, said, “The class which travels in chauffer-driven cars and lives in gated community considers these rickshaw pullers as nuisance. They often get irritated when a rickshaw obstructs their big cars. Their access to the policymakers gives them an upper hand in having their way. We are reprimanded by seniors for not acting tough with rickshaw pullers”.

It’s difficult to predict whether the environment friendly cycle-rickshaw will survive the administration’s onslaught. The policymakers’ inclination towards car manufacturers and owners but apathy towards the poor self-employed citizens is all too evident. The administration conveniently forgets that it’s not the rickshaw but ever proliferating cars which end up choking roads and polluting environment. Any plan to popularize public transport by expanding network of Delhi Metro or DTC Bus service will be effective only if rickshaws are available in all localities to help people reach Metro station or bus stand and to come back home. But this common sense does not matter for those who would never use public transport. What they don’t realize is that rickshaw is not merely about traffic and environment. It is a critical source of livelihood for millions who do not have many options available to them.