Kolkata: Kolkata's hand-rickshaw pullers took to the streets here on Wednesday to demand appropriate rehabilitation. Under the banner of 'Hath Rickshaw Bachao Manch', they demonstrated outside the Kolkata Municipal Corporation headquarters on S
N Banerjee Road. They said the ban on the operation of hand-pulled rickshaws that
was imposed in 2005 by the state government should be lifted. " We want that the
government should formulate a rehabilitation committee comprising of members from
the Rickshaw Union, rickshaw social workers and representatives from the government,
who can think about coming up with some rehabilitation programme for them," said
Mukhtar Ali, convenor, Hath Rickshaw Bachao Manch. The rickshaw pullers also demanded
that the government should renew their licenses. "If the hand-carts are completely
pulled off the road then what will we do? Where will we go after this? Since childhood
we have been engaged in this profession. If the government will not think about
us then we will go to any extent to make our demands heard," said Pankaj Kumar.
