Why has such a huge auto rickshaw market emerged?
Graphics: Agamir Somoy
What is happening with battery powered auto rickshaws in Dhaka cannot be viewed simply as a transportation problem. If we do so, we will likely overlook the underlying problems. We have to acknowledge that many auto rickshaw drivers have no training. They drive recklessly. They travel on the wrong side of the road and stop wherever they want. As a result, they are frequently involved in accidents. It is the state’s responsibility to determine how safe a motorized vehicle is, who can operate it and on which roads it can run. The right to earn a livelihood is certainly important. But that right does not create a right to put other people’s lives at risk.
Then another question needs to be asked: Why has such a huge market for auto rickshaws emerged? The reason is that another economy has developed behind the lives and livelihoods of auto rickshaw drivers. We only see the income earned by the drivers. But we fail to notice how others earn legal and illegal income from that money under various names.
The interests of local political and influential groups are tied to garages, electricity, tokens and extortion surrounding auto rickshaws. Therefore, before launching a rights movement, one question needs to be answered: Who actually benefits the most from this unregulated system? If we want to protect the rights of drivers, they must also be freed from political patronage, muscle power and informal extortion.
“Another economy has developed behind the lives and livelihoods of auto rickshaw drivers. We only see the income earned by auto rickshaw drivers. But we fail to notice how others earn legal and illegal income from that money under various names.”
The issue of auto rickshaws is not limited to Dhaka. From major cities to district and upazila towns and from union markets to major rural roads, auto rickshaws have expanded rapidly along with tea stalls, betel leaf and cigarette shops and grocery stores. This has made communication easier for people and increased the income of many. But within this development there is also a major warning sign about Bangladesh’s future employment situation. If the easiest option available to a working person is to drive an auto rickshaw or open another shop, that person cannot be blamed for making such a choice. The question is why our economy cannot provide that person with 10 more alternatives. Policymakers must provide the answer or explanation.
Yet there are opportunities to expand agricultural product processing, small and medium industries, fisheries, tourism and technology-based services in our villages and small towns. At the same time, there is an opportunity to systematically train Bangladesh’s large working age population for the international labor market. Why can we not provide these opportunities to young people? A young person who earns money by driving an auto rickshaw all day could engage in much more productive work in the country or abroad after receiving appropriate technical and language training. As the elderly population grows in developed countries, demand for young and skilled workers continues to increase. Our large working age population can be educated through technical training and sent to developed countries.
To overcome the auto rickshaw crisis, major cities need more buses, planned routes, metro rail and other forms of public transportation. The public transport system must be organized according to transportation demand. As long as auto rickshaws remain necessary, everything must be brought under regulation, including what types of vehicles will operate, how many will operate, where they will operate and who will be allowed to drive them. Motorized vehicles should not be allowed on the roads without safe design, registration, driver training and licenses. We must understand that showing compassion for people’s livelihoods does not mean putting people’s lives at risk.
This is where the question of rights movements comes to the forefront. An auto rickshaw driver’s demand for a livelihood is legitimate. But violating the law or blocking roads does not become justified for the sake of establishing that demand. If one person breaks the law, it is illegal. If 10,000 people break the law, it is still illegal. Yet our policymakers often reward organized pressure. As a result, people increasingly consider forcing their demands through pressure more effective than making demands while following the rules. Thus, the path toward a politics of decline is being paved in the name of establishing rights.
In the case of auto rickshaws, it is not the state’s job to take one side. The state must tell auto rickshaw drivers: “You have the right to earn a livelihood. But you do not have the right to endanger the lives of others.” At the same time, people must remind the state that it has failed to create safe public transportation and sufficient employment opportunities. Therefore, the responsibility for the problem does not lie only with the drivers. It lies more with the state. On the other hand, the state must firmly tell political and local influential groups that no one has the right to conduct a business of extortion and patronage over the livelihoods of poor people. The state must be strict if necessary. But before that, the government must set future goals on behalf of the state. A clear roadmap must be published on how today’s auto rickshaw drivers can be transformed into skilled drivers, technicians, construction workers or skilled workers for the international labor market in the future.
Therefore, I do not see the countries and its people’s future in simply legalizing auto rickshaws as a solution to the auto rickshaw problem. Rather, I see the future in expanding safe and effective public transportation and creating productive employment opportunities locally. We have to move away from a politics of decline in the name of rights movements. The goal of a rights movement should be to create opportunities for people to have better lives.
Author: Founder and Director, Right Turn
