Free rickshaw ride for voters, Tk 1,000 for pullers

To increase voter turnout, the ruling Awami League supporters arranged free rickshaw service for voters to visit their respective polling centres and return home yesterday.

During a visit to the capital's Karail slum and Adabor areas, this newspaper saw rickshaws, with the respective AL candidates' posters on the back, providing free service to the constituents.

In Dhaka-13 constituency, the rickshaw pullers were wearing T-shirts with AL candidate Jahangir Kabir Nanak's photos printed on them.

These rickshaws were hired for a certain area and many of them hung a small poster in front of them mentioning the coverage area.

For instance, a poster was found on a rickshaw that said it would ply from Karail's Bou Bazar to Banani Model School of Dhaka-17 constituency.

"Around 32 rickshaws were hired for the whole day in the Karail slum area for Tk 1,000 each, along with breakfast and lunch," Monir Hossain, a rickshaw puller of Karail, told The Daily Star.

These rickshaw-pullers refused to go to other destinations.

In front of Dhaka Oxford School at Adabor, a rickshaw-puller was heard saying, "I am only responsible for taking voters to their polling centres and their residences in this area."

A similar scenario was found in Dhaka-12 constituency.

Talking to this newspaper, a female voter of the constituency said she and her sister took a rickshaw to go to the polling centre.

When they reached the centre, the rickshaw-puller refused to take the rent and said, "I'm not allowed to take money from voters. This might create problems for me if someone sees me taking money from you."

"The scene was the same when we took another rickshaw to get home," the voter said.

The mystery was resolved when she got to know from her house help Rahila that Rahila's husband is a rickshaw-puller in the area and some local leaders gathered around 40 rickshaws with a promise to pay Tk 1,000 each for providing service to voters.