Battery-Run Rickshaw Ban: Protest, clashes rock Mirpur
Traffic ground to a halt on different streets in Mirpur yesterday as drivers of battery-run rickshaws demonstrated, clashed with police, and vandalised vehicles.
At least 20 people were reported injured as the ruling Awami League activists attacked protesters, police opened fire and used teargas, and the drivers threw brick chunks at the law enforcers.
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As chaos was unleashed on roads, thousands of commuters were subjected to long tailbacks, especially in the morning and evening rush hours.
On Baunia Bandh road, Sultan Ahmed, a 60 year old NGO official, was seen walking with two bags in the evening.
"I am returning home in Pallabi. After two hours of being stuck, I got down from the bus. I walked past groups of people chasing each other on the street," said the man, who was perspiring.
The demonstrators also damaged at least 25 vehicles, assaulted several rickshaw-pullers, and set fire to a police box on Kalshi Road around 4:30pm. As police chased them away, they threw bricks at vehicles.
It all happened amid a government crackdown on battery-powered three-wheelers in the capital that began on Saturday.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on May 15 ordered the authorities concerned to take steps to enforce a ban on battery-run rickshaws in the capital.
"I used to manually pull rickshaws. I took up the battery-run rickshaw two years ago. I routinely give money to police and local ruling party activists. But, police seized my rickshaw from Shah Ali area on Saturday," said Abul Kalam. "How will I feed my children? I still have to pay for the rickshaw which I bought on credit at Tk 80,000."
Fifteen other demonstrators told this correspondent that they lost their livelihood when police seized their rickshaws over the last few days.
A study carried out by Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) in 2019 said there were two lakh battery-run rickshaws in the city and the number was growing fast.
Hundreds of three-wheeler drivers gathered on the streets at Mirpur-1, Pallabi, Bhashantek, Kalshi Road, Mirpur-6, Mirpur-13 and Mirpur-13 after 9:00am yesterday.
At 10:00am, they marched to Mirpur-10 roundabout and kept it blocked. Around 2:40pm, ruling party activists assaulted some of the demonstrators and chased the others away with help from police.
The demonstrators then threw bricks at cops, ruling party men, and vehicles and moved to Kalshi area and joined a group of drivers already protesting there. They blocked the road between Kalshi graveyard and Baunia Bandh.
Cops chased them away after they set fire to a police box. Police with the help of locals doused the fire immediately.
Jashim Uddin Mollah, deputy commissioner of Mirpur division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said, "Several policemen suffered injuries and several demonstrators have been detained. We used teargas and fired rubber bullets to disperse the demonstrators."
As the chaos unfolded in the morning and evening rush hours, hundreds of commuters remained stuck in long tailbacks for hours.
Protests spread to Uttara at night. Md Shahjahan, DMP's Uttara division deputy commissioner, said the drivers vandalised a police box in Sector-13 around 8:15pm.
Police on Saturday seized 250 battery-run rickshaws in Mirpur. In the last one year, Mirpur division of the DMP seized 1,530 electric three-wheelers.
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