No place for an ordinary man!

The photo of Md Fazlur Rahman has been making rounds across social media. At first glance, it may appear that he is a mentally challenged person, but a close inspection will prove otherwise. His heart-wrenching words echo his miseries.  

"They took away my rickshaw! How on earth will I now pay the instalment of Tk 80,000? How will I survive?"

"What do you intend to do?"

"What can I do? Hang myself, I guess."

The coronavirus pandemic has left thousands without any means to earn a living and Fazlur is one of them. Perhaps Fazlur has a family—a father, a mother, a wife and a child. Now that he has no work, no earning, where will they stay, what will they eat? How will he sustain himself and his family?

Fazlur had borrowed Tk 80,000 to purchase a battery-operated rickshaw, to toil under the scorching heat in order to make some money to feed his family. Maybe that day they were waiting expectantly for him to return with some food to quell the pangs of hunger. Fazlur could not relieve them of that painful wait. Officials from the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) snatched his rickshaw away from him near Jigatala as such rickshaws have been banned in the capital. Earlier, the city corporations had warned of such crackdowns on battery-operated rickshaws. Unfortunately, Fazlur was either not aware of the ban or too desperate to take heed.

A lowly rickshaw puller defying the order of the city corporation! How dare he?

So they had to forcefully confiscate his rickshaw. Perhaps it had been smashed to pieces. Who cares about a few miserable folks—a hungry child, mother… Who has the time for such things when you have to clean up the city, make it modern? The law must be enforced, and for that, they have to start somewhere. Otherwise how will they show that they are doing their job?

So men like Fazlur Rahman invariably make it to the list of "things that must be done". His instalment is worth a measly Tk 80,000. In terms of per capital income, Fazlur Rahman's income would be Tk 180,000. If his instalment was worth Tk 80 lakh, or Tk 80 crore, or Tk 800 crore, then perhaps it would have been worthy of consideration.

There is no accurate data regarding the number of rickshaws, including the battery-operated ones, in the capital. Not even the officials who impounded Fazlur's rickshaw know the number. Instead, what they have are connections with those who make and sell the rickshaws.

Meanwhile "human haulers" drive freely around Dhaka, but unlike rickshaws, no one keeps account of the number of such vehicles plying the streets. They are driven by underage drivers who possess no licences, neither do they have the road permits to operate on the routes they use. Simply put, human haulers are illegal. They stay on the streets by paying bribes of at least Tk 700 on a daily basis. The question inevitably arises: If the authorities can ban and confiscate rickshaws, then why not human haulers? The city corporation officials may say that human haulers are not under their control, but that is not the actual case.

The reality is that owners of human haulers are not like the helpless indebted Fazlur. They are in fact political leaders and law enforcement officials. As a result, they try to justify their operations saying, "How else will people commute?" Moreover, people like Fazlur cannot afford to pay bribes worth Tk 700 every day.

Most of the public buses on our roads which are in a dilapidated state lack fitness certificates, road permits and licenses. On the other hand, many such buses and trucks do have the documents—their owners are worth Tk 80 crore or Tk 800 crore. When people like Fazlur are there to suffer, why would bus owners face any hardships? Bus owners have borrowed crores from the banks, and if their transport is confiscated, then the banks will go bankrupt!

Buses occupy large portions of the roads, turning them into "terminals". And they justify this by saying that the vehicles need to be parked at some place and that the transport is for the public's benefit. Thus, legality does not seem to matter here. The problem only lies with Fazlur's illegal rickshaw.

It's not hard to spot what is legal and what is illegal. By acquiring trade licenses from city corporations, hundreds of commercial schools, colleges and universities have been set up in residential areas. Such an act is not legal under our law, yet the city corporations have granted them the licenses. Will these institutions now be demolished? Most likely not, because it involves the future of education and the economy of the country.

At one time there used to be nearly 56 canals in Dhaka; now there are 26. The remaining canals were filled and used to construct multi-storied buildings. And those influential quarters worth Tk 80 crore or Tk 800 crore are the ones responsible for eating up these canals. None of these wrongdoings are unknown to the city corporations. Will we ever get back those canals? Will the illegal structures ever be demolished? Of course not! Because millions will be lost. As long as we pay no heed to the likes of Fazlur, it will be business as usual for all.

The day Fazlur lost his rickshaw, perhaps a hundred more were launched in the capital, even though launching new rickshaws is not allowed, it is happening daily. Someone has assured that Fazlur would get a new rickshaw. Fazlur got his smile back. But how long will he be able to operate that rickshaw on these streets? Without connections with the right parties or people or the syndicate that dictates which rickshaws must be taken off the streets, it is hard to keep a rickshaw's ownership.

Golam Mortoza is a journalist at The Daily Star.

This article has been translated from Bangla by Minam Haq.