The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) will renew licenses for rickshaw- pullers for a five-year term this year, said DCC officials.

The renewed licenses will be computerised and a database of the license-holding rickshaw-pullers will also be preserved, they added.

In 2006-07, according to the DCC statistics, a total of 1.6 lakh rickshaw-pullers were given licenses against 79,616 legal rickshaws and the DCC took Tk 30 for each of the licence.

Meanwhile, the DCC in 2006 also renewed licenses for rickshaws for a two-year period.

Syed Jahangir Hossain, Deputy Taxation Officer of the DCC, said, "The process of making the computerised licenses has already begun and we will begin the license renewal on completion of the printing of the licenses."

But he did not mention the timeframe to start the license renewal.

Another official, however, said printing of the licence cards would be completed in a couple of months.

Although there was a rule that the pullers of rickshaws and vans should have licenses, it was of no use, and the DCC did not go for any action considering the poverty of the pullers, according to sources of the DCC.

But the DCC started implementing the rule as the number of unauthorised rickshaws and vans went up manifold, causing severe traffic congestions in the city, they added.

The DCC also added a provision for fines of Tk 200 for pulling rickshaws or vans without possessing licenses.

Although there is no official record, the number of rickshaw-pullers in the Dhaka city is estimated at about seven lakh and one lakh of them are regular, according to the Rickshaw Owners' Association.

According to the DCC, at least three lakh unauthorised rickshaws, 50,000 vans and 20,000 pushcarts ply the city streets