New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday put an end to the decades-old practice of hand-pulled carts in Maharashtra’s pedestrian hill-town, Matheran, noting that such an “inhuman practice” hits “basic concept of human dignity in a country like India belittles the constitutional promise of social and economic justice”.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai gave a go ahead to the Maharashtra government to ply e-rickshaws in the town, designated as an eco-sensitive zone. Automobiles are banned in Matheran due to ecological concerns. The only vehicles allowed there are a fire truck and an ambulance during emergencies.
The bench’s order came in a long-pending forest protection case in which the top court has been issuing mandamus to the state government in connection with development projects falling in eco-sensitive areas.
The bench ordered Maharashtra to adopt the e-rickshaw policy followed in Gujarat’s Kevadia, while reminding the state that it was bound to ensure the e-rickshaw scheme is rolled out soon.
Maharashtra government was also directed to rehabilitate the hand-rickshaw pullers in the town and was also cautioned that lack of funds cannot be an excuse in not executing the scheme.
“Persons pulling hand rickshaws do so not out of their choice but because they have no other source or old livelihood,” the order noted.
The bench described the continuation of hand-pulled rickshaws in Matheran as unfortunate.
“The question we have to ask ourselves is whether we are alive to the constitutional promise of social and economic equality. The answer unfortunately will have to be in the negative,” the bench said, recalling how the top court had 45 years ago declared such a practice as inhuman.
“Continuing such practice even after 78 years of the country getting its freedom and after 75 years of the Constitution being erected and promising social and economic justice to its citizens. It would be betraying the promise given by the people of India to themselves,” the bench said.
It went on to add: “We, therefore, find that the practice of pulling rickshaws needs to be dropped forthwith and at the same time question would arise if we stop this practice what would happen to those who are dependent on it for their livelihood.”
In May 2022, the Supreme Court had permitted Maharashtra to implement its proposal to introduce a few eco-friendly e-rickshaws in Matheran, on an experimental basis. This was done to check the feasibility of e-rickshaw as a replacement to the hand-pulled rickshaws.
In February this year, it asked Maharashtra to furnish a proposal for revisiting the process of allotment of 20 e-rickshaw licenses to original hand-cart pullers.
Later, three associations representing horsemen filed applications, seeking modification of the permission to operate eco-friendly e-rickshaws in the Matheran. They were filed at a time when the state was laying down concrete paver blocks.
The top court in February 2023 stopped laying of concrete paver blocks, and directed the monitoring committee (constituted by virtue of a 2003 notification by the Ministry of Environment and Forests) to submit a report on the introduction of e-rickshaws in the area.
In November 2023, SC allowed the state to continue with the e-rickshaw pilot project in Matheran until further orders.
Then, in January 2024, the court clarified that handcart pullers would be rehabilitated as e-rickshaw pullers. And in April this year, it restricted the number of e-rickshaw pullers to 20, while permitting them to ply for transporting tourists and the local population.
In its Wednesday order, the Supreme Court issued a slew of directions, including allowing the state to commence its work to lay down paver blocks from Dasturi Naka (bus station) up to the Shivaji Statue in Matheran.
However, it restrained the state not to lay the blocks on the internal road and the trading routes.
The hand-pullers rickshaws would be phased out in the next six months, SC said, while directing Maharashtra to prepare a rehabilitation scheme on the lines of the one prevalent in Kevadia. This scheme would be to facilitate the hand-rickshaw pullers to purchase e-rickshaws or hire them.
The Matheran monitoring committee, operating under the chairmanship of the Matheran district collector, has been told to identify the genuine rickshaw pullers. This committee will also determine how many e-rickshaws are required to ply in the town. This determination will be worked out after considering ground realities such as the number of tourists visiting the hill-town and availability of other modes of transport, if any. All concrete blocks, court said, will be replaced by paver blocks.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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