An old tradition in India’s sprawling eastern city of Calcutta will end when the man-pulled rickshaws are banned by officials who regard them as inhuman. The city’s mayor describes the rickshaw puller’s job as “despicable,” and the Marxist chief minister of West Bengal state, of which Calcutta is the capital, calls it “barbaric.” City officials say the hand-pulled rickshaws, numbering about 18,000, are a British colonial anachronism that have been outlawed almost everywhere else in the world, The International Herald Tribune reports. But the ban, expected to go into effect in a few weeks, almost certainly will throw the pullers out of work, and contribute more to traffic snarls. The rickshaw puller has been popular because he is the only one who can weave through the traffic during rush hour. But Calcutta, like other Indian cities, is changing fast as India’s booming economy brings prosperity to its people. And yet, the rickshaw puller has been offered no alternative means of livelihood or any compensation package for being forced to take his vehicle off the street. © Copyright 2005 by United Press International

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