Uncertain road ahead for tongawallahs as MCD razes stable at Asaf Ali Marg

The drive,claim MCD officials,is part of its plan to clean up the Walled City area in time for the Games. There are three more tonga stands operational in Old Delhi — at Minto Road,Hauz Qazi and Kaudiya Bridge. There are around 232 tongawallahs in the Capital.

The tongawallahs,all of whose licences expired on May 31 this year,are facing their worst crisis in decades,with no alternate trade or space in sight. The tongawallahs of Asaf Ali Road have shifted their animals to the Turkman Gate area for now,but are yet to come up with their “next plan of action”.

The civic agency is,meanwhile,adamant at phasing out not just horse-drawn carriages but also horses from the Capital. It wants the tongawallahs to sell off their horses across the state border and then either shift to their newly allotted tehbazari site in East Delhi’s Shastri Park,or to a different trade. The tongawallahs are,however,unwilling to accept this condition,and has claimed that the agency has “gone back on its words”.

Promised rehabilitation

The MCD had promised to allot 6X4 plots and create concrete tehbazari sites equipped with public amenities for around 132 licensed tongawallahs of the Old Delhi area. It had also promised to partly finance three-wheelers for those owning two or more horses. “But in place of concrete stalls,a concrete pavement-like structure has been created alongside the main GT Road near the Shastri Park Metro line,and we have been asked to create whatever else we require on our own,” said 52-year-old tonga driver Noor Mohammed.

“Tongas have been our source of livelihood for decades now. Even if we forget that and try to take up a new trade,the cost of going to East Delhi everyday,apart from paying rental for the tehbazaari site and the burden of carrying our goods back and forth each day do not make any sense,” said Mohd Zahid (43).

The MCD,however,maintains that its action is completely justified as the tongawallahs have no licence to ply their trade any longer. “Besides,they had been warned well in advance to move out voluntarily or face action. We had even issued them a final notice on Wednesday evening,asking them to vacate by Friday morning,” an MCD official said.

The MCD further claimed all tongawallahs of Asaf Ali Marg have been “allotted tehbazari sites at Shastri Park and none are eligible to get finance for a three -wheeler”. “The rehabilitation plan for the tongawallahs is already in place; those owning donkeys at the stable had in any case been functioning without any licence for a long time,” the official said.

The MCD is also working on a plan to allot “a more affordable model of e-rickshaws (battery-operated rickshaws) to tongawallahs who are eligible to receive funding for three-wheelers.” The plan is still at a nascent stage.