Gateway to hell

With 5,000 licensed rickshaws plying in the entire Rohini Zone, at least 100 can be found standing outside the gates of housing societies of Sector-9 Rohini

As DC Chowk market is situated right opposite to Kamdhenu Apartments, Surya Kiran Apartments and Bhagya Laxmi Apartments, problem of a different nature has gripped residents. A large number of rickshaw pullers just keep standing right at the gate of these apartments blocking free vehicular movement.Since this market is visited by people from neighbouring blocks too, a large number of rickshaw pullers keep waiting for their sawaris on the main road itself. Be it any time of the day, not less than 50 rickshaws can be seen parked outside the gates of these housing societies leading to inconvenience for the residents as well as the pedestrians. The question is if residents stop patronising these rickshaw pullers, they will automatically vanish from the place! "Not at all," snaps Malay Khasnavis, a resident of Kamdhenu Apartment. “It’s not just us who take these rickshaws, rather the bulk of the passengers these rickshaw pullers get are from the market across the road,” says he.Since there is no space for the rickshaw pullers to park their rickshaws outside the market area, they prefer to park it along the footpath as per their convenience. Several complaints have been made to the local representatives but to no avail. “Even the matter was brought to the notice of the local police officials but no action was taken. We have even written to the MCD department, all that they do is to remove them one day and within a week the rickshaws are back in business again,” says VP Rathi, president, Kamdhenu Apartment RWA.The problem does not end here. During the peek hours, one can see scores of vendors further encroaching upon the road by hawking their wares. With people buying the grocery items from these road-side fruits and vegetable vendors, things get more chaotic. With more than 80 rickshaws parked on either side of this road, residents are put off by the callous attitude of the authorities. Apart from the residents of the societies around DC Chowk, it’s also the general traffic that gets affected due to the encroachment by these rickshaws and rehriwallas.When NDP contacted MCD’s licensing authority of Hackney Carriage Department, Superintendent Kaptan Singh, confirmed that in the entire Rohini Zone there are 5,000 licensed rickshaws.