Kulti :

A 50-year-old tanga (horse-drawn carriage) operator in Burdwan’s Kulti had been planning to sell his two horses and look for some other source of income as the business, in which his family has been involved for four generations, had fallen on hard times.

The same was the fate of around 30-odd tanga operators in Kulti town on the Bengal-Jharkhand border.

However, the tangas have now got a new lease of life and the horses are back on their feet, ironically though, because they are being used to carry the burden of an illegal trade. Local coal pilferers have chosen the nearly forgotten mode of transport to ferry their booty to brick kilns and depots as tangas are much faster than bullock carts.

The horse-drawn carriage was introduced in Kulti by the British after James Erskine founded Bengal Iron Works.

The journey of the tanga since then has been chequered. From a symbol of glory during British rule, it became a popular mode of public transport. However, with the advent of modern means of transport such as buses, autorickshaws and totos, the tanga lost out.

Earlier, pilferers used to transport coal in trucks. However, because of a crackdown by police, they had chosen bullock carts and bicycles. However, bullock carts are slow and ferrying huge amounts of coal on cycles is a labourious and time-consuming task, prompting the pilferers to choose the tangas.

The owners of at least 30 horse-drawn carts in Kulti town have modified the vehicles so that they can be used to ferry coal. The hoods and seats have been removed to make space for coal sacks. Sources said the tanga owners charge between Rs 200 and Rs 250 for each trip.

Some residents alleged a section of policemen took bribes from tanga owners and pilferers.

Asansol-Durgapur police commissioner L.N. Meena said he did not know that tangas were being used to ferry pilfered coal and dismissed as “baseless” the allegation of bribe.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Front Page> Bengal> Story / by Abhijeet Chatterjee / Wednesday – August 17th, 2016