By Maxwell Pereira
Prior to 1975 there were under 5,000 licensed cycle-rickshaws in Delhi. Licenses were then being given to those who were not the actual rickshaw pullers too. Since there was exploitation of actual "pullers" by owners, the MCD in 1976 laid down that "No person shall keep or ply for hire a rickshaw in Delhi unless he himself is the owner thereof and holds a license granted in this behalf; and no person will be granted more than one license".
At the instance of some aggrieved rickshaw owner, the Supreme Court in 1981 issued a "rule nisi" suspending the bye-law which provided for grant of license to owner-cum-puller only. Under direction of the Supreme Court, the MCD then framed in 1982 a scheme to decentralize the work at the zonal level for the grant of 20,000 cycle-rickshaw licenses with a different colour scheme for each Zone in consultation with Director/Transport and DCP/Traffic - detailing that
a) Cycle-rickshaw licenses would be granted to rickshaw owner-pullers only;
b) For the purpose of granting rickshaw licenses MCD area was divided into 12 zones;
c) Nationalized banks viz. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda were to be approached to provided loan assistance to rickshaw pullers who did not own their own rickshaws, to the extent of Rs. 2,000 per rickshaw puller at 4% interest; and
d) The Credit Guarantee Corporation of India would stand surety for rickshaw pullers for the purpose of repayment of loans obtained from the banks.
In January 1987, the Supreme Court withdrew the "rule nisi" upholding and authenticating the bye-laws of the MCD, directing the MCD to proceed with the implementation of the scheme.
All this while, the authorized strength of licensed cycle-rickshaws remained at 3,822 in 1980, which grew upto 5,660 in 1987. In pursuance of the Supreme Court ruling in 1987 the MCD then proceeded to grant 20,000 cycle-rickshaw licenses in a phased manner. As per annual data collected by the Traffic Police from the MCD, even up to 1993 the total strength of licensed cycle-rickshaws was at 15,429, which figure jumped to 45,778 in 1994. The (licensed) figure jumped to 80,832 in 2000.
In 1994 to deter unlicensed cycle-rickshaws, the bye-laws were amended to provide that
i) Licensed cycle-rickshaws, found being piled by unlicensed pullers shall be released on claim within a period of fortnight to their owners after charging a composition fee;
ii) Unlicensed cycle-rickshaws, even if found being piled by licensed puller, shall be seized and disposed of through public auction; and
iii) The licensed cycle-rickshaws, found being plied by unlicensed pullers, shall be disposed of through public auction.
While at face value the statistics on cycle-rickshaw in Delhi were computed on the basis of actual licenses issued by the MCD, in fact the actual number of cycle-rickshaws (authorized and unauthorized) in Delhi was estimated at various stages at levels ranging from 2 lakhs to 5 lakhs in estimations attempted by the Traffic Police and studies conducted by the BPRandD in early 90s.
© copyright : Maxwell Pereira
Courtesy Mid Day, dated November 13, 2002
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