The city corporation is providing only 1.76 lakh driving licences to the rickshawpullers while different sources said the number is not less than 10 lakh in the city.

According to DCC, there are about 79,000 authorised rickshaws and 10,000 rickshaw-vans in the city. Based on the statistics, DCC has set a target to grant licence to 1.76 lakh pullers considering two shifts for each three-wheeler.

DCC has so far provided 1,46,000 licences to the pullers.

"None would be allowed to pull rickshaws without driving licence," said Sayed Jahangir, chief of the Wheel Tax Department of DCC.

He said the city corporation on every Saturday provides rickshaw-pulling licence and by the end of the present fiscal year they will reach the target of 1.76 lakh.

According to DMP, DCC and rickshaw-garage owners, there are 5 to 6 lakh authorised and unauthorised rickshaws in the city and the number pullers is almost double.

If the number of rickshaws is kept restricted within 1.76 lakh, around 8 lakh unlicensed rickshawpullers will become jobless, sources said.

Not only the rickshawpullers, a large number of people are involved in related jobs such as rickshaw assembling and repair, and selling of rickshaw parts.

Asked how will DCC deal with the huge number of unauthorised rickshaws, rickshaw-vans and unlicensed pullers, Jahangir said: "We will discuss it with DMP and then will decide about the ways to tackle the situation."

About the fear of possible forgery of licences due to very poorly made licences, he said the licences do not have any security features. These are merely printed papers with DCC seal. DCC does not have funds to make forgery-proof licences.

DCC collects Tk 30 from the applications for each licence.

According to the government's Strategic Transport Planning, a 20-year plan for Dhaka, rickshaws are daily carrying 34 percent of the total number of passengers in the city. In STP, rickshaw is considered as the feeder transport service.

Rickshaws are seen as one of the main reasons for traffic congestions in the city as the number of rickshaws has grown over the years due to lack of any controlling mechanism.

Moreover, road space of the city has not been increased to allow movement of more vehicles with the rapidly growing population in the city.

Morshedul Anwar, head of the subcommittee of the Regional Transport Committee, told Star City that as roads are not constructed with the arrangement of rickshaws, these are creating trouble in the main arterials of the city road networks.

There should be more rickshaw-free and rapid moving roads in the city, he said.

About the possible transport crisis if only 1.76 lakh rickshaws are allowed to operate in the city, he said if buses were utilised in a proper system, demand for rickshaws would reduce. "The problem is not transport gap but unemployment of thousands of people."

"Safety is another concern. Rickshaws are plying with the high speed motorised vehicles in the same road lane and risking lives of the passengers and the pullers," he said.

"We always helped DCC in controlling the number of the rickshaws. We should remove unauthorised rickshaws and pullers from the roads in phases," Morshedul said.