The Hindu St. Stephen's College students with the
modified rickshaw at their college premises in the Capital.
New Delhi: At first
look it appears like any other cycle-rickshaw. Until you allow the back-rest
for the seat to fall over, like the back seat of your Maruti 800 or Alto car,
and it takes the form of a six-feet-long bed. With this simple innovation,
along with many other thoughtfully improvised solutions such as a mosquito net
and a solar panel that fuels a reading light and an electric fan, a mobile
charging port and an FM radio, the lives of rickshaw-pullers look set for a
qualitative improvement, if this prototype of the cycle-rickshaw of the future
catches on.
The project began with the recognition that 30 per cent of the
homeless in Delhi are rickshaw-pullers, and worse still, many of them slept in
their rickshaws due to lack of means to rent accommodation or access to night
shelters, besides the fear of theft or confiscation of their vehicles. “The
human way of sleeping is with your body stretched out. But the limitations of
money and space handicap these rickshaw pullers. I have seen rickshaw pullers
cradle into impossible and dangerous and physically harmful postures to be able
to sleep in the existing cycle rickshaws,” says Dr. Amod Kumar of the Mother
NGO, the nodal agency for homeless persons in the Capital.
With financial assistance from Mi-India, and designs done by
Deshardt Solutions, this prototype also boasts of a folding sun shade, a
sleeping bag, locker for storage under the seat, USB player, head lamp and tail
lights, double ball-bearings in the wheels, and a pouch for keeping a water
bottle.
The project also comes with the promise of turning over the ownership
of the rickshaw to the puller after completing the payment of EMIs, through a
microfinance model.
Their inclusion into financial services is another highlight of
the project through Aadhaar registration, opening of bank account and PPF
account, and health insurance subscription. The Mother NGO has helped over
3,000 homeless persons getting Aadhaar cards in Delhi till date.
The rickshaw costs nearly Rs.16,000; this is Rs.7,000 more than
the conventional ones. Dr. Kumar says that Shikhar, an NGO, will roll out 100
of these new cycle-rickshaws shortly, and also handle the financing aspect. The
EMI will be Rs.1,500 per month or Rs.50 per day. The collection mechanism is
yet to be worked out. The Indian Overseas Bank has also shown interest in
financing the scheme.
Dr. Kumar is clear that the project should not degrade into the
current ‘thekedari’ model where a contractor typically owns 50-100 rickshaws
and leases it out to the pullers in eight-hour shifts. “We want the puller to
be the owner. We are not too worried about the puller defaulting or selling it
off before the loan is repaid or pawning the parts or of theft happening. Such
risks are there in every trade and will be only a negligible percentage.”
Meanwhile, designer Ankur Rawal of Deshardt Solutions is looking
at solutions to further improve the rickshaw. “It weighs 15 kg more than the
normal ones. Some ergonomic adjustments can still be made. We are also looking
at lighter options besides iron for the frame.”
The project has also been propelled forward by the enthusiastic
assistance of faculty and students of the Physics and History department of the
St. Stephen’s College. While the physics students have worked on wiring and
giving finishing touches to the prototype, the history students have done a
detailed socio-economic survey of rickshaw-pullers.
What Dr. Kumar is more worried about is the support of the State.
Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has consented to unveil the prototype officially
on Tuesday (October 23). The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has promised to
grant licences without delays.
However, the problem of parking at night and threat of
confiscation and persecution by the MCD and police officers still looms large.
St. Stephen’s students say that ideally cycle-rickshaws should be allowed to
stand at the DMRC and MCD parking lots, which are empty at night, on a payment
basis.
Even as the ongoing review of the DDA Master Plan – 2021 is
recognising the valuable contribution of cycle-rickshaws in providing a cheap,
non-polluting feeder service to mass transit hubs, this modified model promises
a better life to these hardy, hard-working men on our streets.
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