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Illegal rickshaws streaming in

ABDUL KADER
Illegal rickshaws have started flooding the city streets ahead of Eid, worsening the traffic congestion.
The badly affected areas are Mogbazar, Mouchak, Malibagh, Kakrail, Motijheel, Paltan, North South Road, Green Road, Science Laboratory Crossing, New Market, Jatrabari, Sayedabad and all major roads of the old Dhaka.
During Ramadan, an estimated 50 thousand new rickshaws are likely to hit the city streets, according to the rickshaw owners. The influx takes place when the authorities are struggling to drive out three lakh illegal rickshaws.
Sources said, a section of owners supplies duplicate numbers for unlicensed rickshaws on monthly payment under the banner of a rickshaw owners' organisation.
Hazer Ali, a puller who owns a rickshaw said, " I pay Tk 200 for using a genuine number. But there is a large number of owners who give duplicate numbers just for money," Ali said, citing this as the main reason for increase in illegal rickshaws.
Scores of new rickshaws are being manufactured in city areas like Jurine, Jatrabari, Maniknagar, Shahjahanpur,
Mugdapara, Modhubagh everyday, some owners said.
Besides, a few thousand more rickshaws would be added from Narayanganj, Tongi, Savar and other city peripheries till Eid, they said.
During the Eid period about 80 per cent of the new rickshawpullers will come from the northern districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, Bogra, Gaibandha, Jamalpur and Nilphamari, they added.
"The total number illegal rickshaws may stand around three lakh though this figure will be lower compared to last year's because of the on-going drive against illegal rickshaws," said M Ali Akbar, general secretary of Dhaka City Rickshaw Malik Oikyojote.
An official at the Dhaka Traffic Coordination Board (DTCB) said around 2000 unauthorised rickshaws from the traffic division north and south have been seized till yesterday since the drive started on September 9. The seized rickshaws are being dumped at the Parade Square Ground, old airport, Tejgaon.
Two teams, each led by a traffic sergeant and some Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) officials of Wheel Taxation Department are spearheading the drive.
According to the Wheel Taxation Department of the
DCC there are only 80 thousand licensed rickshaws. But according to reliable sources, about three lakh rickshaws ply the city streets without valid papers.
A DCC official of the department blamed a certain organised gang for illegally copying the licences and number plates.
Meanwhile, the move to ban rickshaws on one of the six major roads this month has been put off for a month in view of Ramadan.
A DTCB official said, making off-limits to road stretching from Science Laboratory to Bangabazar via Elephant Road, Shahbagh and the National Press Club 'may tigger a bad impact'.
The decision will be implemented in December after the Eid celebration, he said.
Rickshaws will be banned on the Gabtali-Azimpur route via New Market in January, he said.
Rickshaw movement on the road between Gabtali and Russel Square was banned on December 20 last year.
The DTCB official said the road from Pragati Sarani to Rampura to Mouchak would be banned for rickshaws in March and the stretches from Bangla Motor, New Eskaton, Malibagh to Rampura and Rokeya Sarani to Farmgate in December next year.