Rupandehi. Rita Adhikari of Butwal Sub-metropolitan City-8 is doing well. She drives an e-rickshaw all day long. She earns about 1,700 rupees daily from that. She makes a living from this income. Rita, who is 40 years old, has 21 and 15-year-old daughters.
The money she earns by driving an e-rickshaw all day long covers the education expenses of her two daughters and household expenses. Rita, who has a permanent residence in Rupa Rural Municipality-2, Kaski, previously worked as a general worker in a cooperative organization in Butwal.
She says that she started driving an e-rickshaw as an alternative after facing problems in meeting the household expenses with the salary of the said job. Rita, who initially rented a rickshaw after leaving her job at the cooperative, has now bought and driven her own rickshaw.
She takes passengers to various places in Butwal, centering around the new bus park in Butwal. She never considers any work to be small or big, and says that she sometimes feels sad when some passengers look down on her because she is a female driver.
‘We also work like men, but some look down on us because we are women,’ she says. ‘Some passengers even fight when it comes to paying the fare after reaching their destination.’ Rickshaw driver Rita has a complaint against the sub-metropolitan city.
‘There is not even a single public toilet in such a big city, there is a problem when it comes to going to the toilet,’ she says. ‘There is also a big problem with parking.’ Rita says that auto-rickshaw drivers are being hit by double taxation and the local government should pay attention to this issue.
39-year-old Khimakumari BK, a resident of Nayagaun, Butwal-12, has also been driving rickshaws for the past eight years. Khima, who drove a rickshaw on rent for the first year, started driving a rickshaw by herself after that. She says that even though she could not earn money by driving a rented rickshaw, she started driving a rickshaw herself because she was forced to pay the rent to the rickshaw driver every day.
Khima’s husband is employed in Mumbai, India, while she has a 21-year-old daughter and a 19-year-old son at home. Khima, who says that she finds satisfaction from this work, says that she earns Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,500 daily.
Similarly, Meena Nepali, a single woman temporarily residing in Devinagar, Butwal, is also supporting her family of four by driving a rickshaw. She is from Chhatrakot Rural Municipality-5 of Gulmi and has been driving a rickshaw in Butwal for the past seven years. She bought a new rickshaw herself three years ago.
‘When I gave the money I earned while driving a rented rickshaw to the moneylender, I didn’t have any money left for myself. Now I have my own rickshaw, and everything I earn is my own,’ she said. She drives the rickshaw from 11 am to 6 pm after finishing her household chores.
She says that the fare in Butwal is fixed at Rs 30 for a short distance and Rs 100 for a longer distance. She has both sweet and sour moments while driving a rickshaw. Seeing this work that some women struggle with, she recounted the bitter moments when they were treated respectfully, while some women were treated rudely.
The bitter impression that some men also treated respectfully and some were rudely has been etched in Meena’s mind. Meena is saddened by the municipality’s treatment of autorickshaw workers. She said that she has now learned to drive a car and decided to pursue the profession of taxi driving.
There are many women and men in Butwal who have earned a living by driving autorickshaws. Those who have made their dreams and future in this work and have considered it their main profession. They believe that this has become their main livelihood due to lack of sufficient investment to do other businesses and lack of corresponding skills to get jobs elsewhere.
Women autorickshaw drivers have more problems than men. They complain that autorickshaw entrepreneurs and drivers are being hit by double taxation when they pay double taxes at two places, the local municipality and the transport office.
Pushparaj Khanal, Revenue Branch Officer of the Sub-metropolitan City, said that 1,413 autorickshaws have been registered in Butwal and permission has been obtained from the city to operate them. Of these, about 50 autorickshaws have been registered in the names of women so far, according to Khanal. He said that not all the autorickshaws plying in Butwal have been registered and licensed.
Tilottama Municipality, an attractive destination and everyone’s choice, has 332 autorickshaws in operation so far. Of these, 34 women have registered driving licenses and rickshaws in their names, said Economic Development Branch Officer Krishna Pandey. According to Officer Pandey, 100 autorickshaws are still in the registration process.
In Devdaha Municipality of Rupandehi, about 21 autorickshaws are registered and operating in the municipality so far. The municipality has stated that not all the autorickshaws plying in the municipality have been registered. Similarly, not all the autorickshaws operating in Siddharthanagar Municipality have come through the registration process.
The revenue branch of the municipality has stated that 473 rickshaws have been registered and operated in the city so far. Similarly, only one woman has registered a rickshaw in the city, said Kamal Kant Khanal, an officer of the branch.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्