Efforts to preserve the Taj Mahal from pollution have unwittingly come to the aid of tens of thousands of cycle-rickshaw drivers in India who find themselves pedalling a sleek vehicle lighter, or just a little heavier, than themselves.
The new avatar of the cycle-rickshaw weighs just 57 kg, as opposed to earlier models that weighed over 90 kg.
One of the men behind the new rickshaw is Prabhu Satyajit from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, who developed it under the Agra Cycle Rickshaw Improvement project.
"The US-based NGO Institute of Transport Development Policy (ITDP) wanted to take some measures to reduce pollution in the city that houses one of the wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal," Satyajit told IANS.
ITDP thus decided to popularise the cycle-rickshaw as a mode of transport so people opt for it rather than polluting vehicles.
The experiment seems to have worked.
Whether it has actually reduced pollution levels in the city of the Taj is the stuff of elaborate studies. But it has meant an immediate, dramatic change for 47-year-old Ram Bahadur who has been ferrying people on his rickshaw in his hometown here for the last 15 years. It has been a tough job, but just got easier.
The burden is suddenly lighter, and he no longer winces when he has to carry heavy baggage along with a passenger - after all, he is pulling some 37 kg less.
Another happy rickshaw driver is Dinesh Sharma, 24. "I am pedalling this rickshaw because my customers are happy and I too am," he said, adding that earlier cycle-rickshaws were not allowed inside five-star hotels but now some had relented as they perhaps looked more respectable.
In fact, about 50 such rickshaws were recently positioned outside a luxury hotel for delegates attending a conference on better air quality in Asian cities.
"It has given us dignity," said Sharma proudly.
That sense of pride is a source of comfort to about 50,000 of India's estimated 20 million cycle-rickshaw drivers.
In India, rickshaws as a mode of transport became popular during World War II.
Big companies invested in manufacturing bicycles, but rickshaw making stayed with the smaller entrepreneur, said Satyajit.
So, while cycles, cars and vehicles evolved over time, the humble, non-polluting rickshaw did not.
That has changed now.
"We motivated local manufacturers to adopt this model and they have been doing so," said the IIT designer, adding that the new avatars first appeared in the market two years ago.
They have shown up all over the country, from nearby New Delhi to Hyderabad further in the south.
--Indo-Asian News Service