Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) last issued rickshaw licences in 1994, but it did not stop new rickshaws from hitting the city streets. The result is that the number of unauthorised rickshaws has increased incredibly. Today it exceeds one lakh.
Talking to The Daily Star recently, Hasan Osman Goni, chief inspector (vehicles) of the CCC, said the city corporation suspended issuing new licences considering the city's capacity to deal with increasing traffic.
But it is not clear whether the decision has made the traffic situation any better.
Currently, more than 1.5 lakh rickshaws are plying the port city streets. Only 35,001 of those have acquired licences from the city corporation.
In this context, different rickshaw owners' associations have sprung up and they are distributing "registration number plates" to new rickshaws instead of the CCC, which is illegal.
Osman Goni said 10-15 such associations were operating in the port city.
Some of these are Chittagong Mahanagori Rickshaw Chalok Malik Oikya Parishad, Chittagong City Rickshaw Chalok Malik Oikya Parishad, Chittagong Rickshaw Chalok Malik Sangram Parishad, Chittagong Rickshaw Chalok Malik Oikya Jote, Chittagong City Rickshaw Malik Samity, and Chittagong Mahanagori Rickshaw Chalok Malik Kalyan Parishad.
In order to operate in the city, new rickshaws have to attain membership of these associations and subsequently the number plates they issue.
A rickshaw owner has to pay Tk 10-15 to be a member of such an organisation and has to pay Tk 4-10 as monthly contribution to the organisation, said sources.
MA Quader, president of Chittagong Mahanagori Rickshaw Chalok Malik Oikya Parishad, said they charged an initial membership fee of Tk 15 and monthly fee of Tk 4.
He admitted that there were at least eight associations of rickshaw drivers and owners.
On the other hand, the city corporation used to charge Tk 70 for each licence and another Tk 70 for annual renewal of that licence.
The CCC has stopped renewing licences too. The last rickshaw licence was renewed in 2008-2009, said Shamsul Alam, revenue officer of the city corporation.
Abdul Quader Majumder, president of Chittagong City Rickshaw Chalok Malik Oikya Parisad, said rickshaws were an important means of transport but none cared much about it.
CCC Chief Inspector Osman Goni said the authorities had decided to provide licences to 35,000 more rickshaws soon.
But Abdul Quader said the CCC had been giving assurance of providing licences to 35,000 new rickshaws since long but it had yet to give registration to any.
CCC Mayor M Manjur Alam told The Daily Star recently that the authorities were going to hold a “Rickshaw Day” in Chittagong city soon. New licences would be issued and expired ones would be renewed on that day, he added.