There was a time in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi district when rickshaw drivers used to earn up to Rs 400-500 per day. But now due to the plying of autos and e-rickshaws, rickshaw drivers have to sit empty for the whole day. These rickshawmen say that now they do not even get a single ride during the day and they have to return home empty handed in the evening, according to reports by hindi newspaper Khabar Lehriya.
Talking to the newspaper, rickshaw driver Ramlal says that for the last 4-5 years, the income of rickshaw pullers has come to a complete standstill. The general public also now wants to take auto or e-rickshaw to go from nearby to far-flung places. Because rickshaw takes more time than auto, so these people now have to sit empty all day, he said.
Rickshaw driver Surat says that e-rickshaw will come for 1-2 lakhs and if these people now drive e-rickshaw on rent, then its fare also costs 10-12 thousand rupees per month. Surat told that these people do not have enough money so that they can start any new business other than driving rickshaw. In this scorching heat, these people wander from one place to another in search of a ride, but still they do not get any ride.
Passenger Sandeep, talking to Khabar Lehriya, said that earlier the beauty of pedal rickshaws was seen everywhere, but now people also prefer to go in auto instead of these rickshaws. Sandeep says that rickshaw drivers also charge more fare and take more time as compared to e-rickshaws or autos. If the ride is to cover a distance of 2 kilometres, then while the e-rickshaw driver takes 10 rupees and reaches it in 5 minutes, the pedal rickshaw drivers don’t charge below 30-40 rupees and deliver it in 15-20 minutes. Therefore, the public also takes a vehicle keeping in mind the time and fare. According to these people, in this era of inflation, every person thinks of saving money, so the general public also wants to use e-rickshaw or auto instead of rickshaw under compulsion.
Rickshaw driver Kanta told the newspaper that he had bought a pedal rickshaw several years ago for Rs 10,000 and had hoped that whatever he earned from driving it would easily support him and his family. But with the passage of time the cities developed and rickshaws as if disappeared. Kanta says that now even one or two rickshaws that are seen on the road are empty because no one wants to ride on a rickshaw anymore. It has become difficult for these people to earn 200-400 rupees in a day and they get only 5-6 riders in the whole day. He told that now only those people sit on rickshaws who have to go inside the streets because autos and e-rickshaws
Can’t easily walk in narrow streets. According to Kanta, the general public should take pity on the rickshaw pullers and now ride the rickshaw so that these poor families can also run their homes.
Rickshaw pullers say that these people are illiterate and most of the people started driving rickshaw from a very young age, due to which they do not get any other work and now they do not get any employment anywhere else. Since the Corona period, very few people come out of the house anyway and those who come out take auto or e-rickshaw. These people say that the government and the administration should now help these poor families and help them financially.
(Inputs from Khabar Lehriya)
