Calcutta rickshaw Bashny.Net

Barefoot men in their carriages carrying people and goods, called "horses" of Calcutta. To earn a few rupees they are willing to work 18 hours a day in the heat and rain. The Government of West Bengal, preaching Marxist views by which famous city was renamed Kolkata, calls this work "primitive", "pathetic" and "brutal." Officials insist that this profession has no place in 2010, although the locals do not agree. In the "city of happiness" as it is called, rickshaws are 18 thousand people.

Most people working rickshaws, come from the poorest state of Bihar. Leaving his family, they had to go to the city for work. Rickshaws - an integral part of Kolkata. Introduced more than a century ago, thanks to the Chinese rickshaws still play an important role in the life of the city.

21 photos from here

1. Almost 40 years 60-year-old Mohammed Salim works rickshaw on the streets of Kolkata.





Kolkata - a huge city with a population of 15 million. People. Because of the constant traffic jams and densely built-up streets, quickly get through the narrow streets only manage rickshaws. Rickshaws carry everything, from school children and the sick, and the last chicken and fruit. According to local residents, no rickshaws "city of joy" would be totally immobilized.

The government has announced plans to completely ban rickshaws work, as apparently it demeans their human dignity, but such initiatives are faced with a huge number of people disagreeing. The organization "Calcutta Samaritans," advocates rickshaws believes that the consequences of such a prohibition does not take long to wait "in distress will be thousands of people».

"Cursed life! I performed this work for many years, and now it's all over? ... What will happen to my family? "Says 60-year-old Mohammed Salim. In Bihar, where he was born he had a wife and six children, whom he could visit only once a year. He earns a few dollars a day, most of which pays for the lease of a rickshaw.

"We have to deal with various obstacles, such as the sultry heat, the rain, as well as attacks of criminals and police extortion. Every day I'm getting weaker and more often think about my family, "says Mohammed.



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4. 55-year-old Mohammed Wajid 30 years pulls a cart along the streets of India's Kolkata.



5. The license for the right to operate a rickshaw on one of the carts.



6. The 55-year-old Mohammed Wajid 30 years pulls a cart along the streets of India's Kolkata.



7. The 40-year-old Mohammed Mahut with his wagon.



8. Bell helps rickshaws to move among the machines.



9. Kolkata rickshaw work almost 18 000 people. The photograph of them.



10. Rickshaw lucky people in the narrow streets of the city.



11. The peculiar purse in which a rickshaw store daily earnings.



12. worn and tired feet rickshaws.



13. Rickshaw lucky people in the narrow streets of the city.



14. Rickshaw resting in his carriage on the side of the road.



15. The wagon loaded with chickens.



16. Rickshaw.



17. Rickshaw lucky people in the narrow streets of the city.



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19. The old shabby seat in one of the wagons.



20. wagon.



21. Rickshaw resting on the street.



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