Colloquially known as meen baadi vandi, the motorised fish carts discovered across the Kasimedu space are a fantastic instance of a jugaad.
| Picture Credit score: B. JOTHI RAMALINGAM
As one takes a proper from Ennore Specific Highway in the direction of Kasimedu Fish Market, it’s simple to identify a bunch of motorised fish carts parked with a bunch of their house owners indulging in pleasant banter.
If one approaches and begins a dialog with them about their autos, nevertheless, they’ll turn out to be a bit of cautious, for the autos on which their livelihoods rely are legally banned from plying on the town’s roads.
Colloquially known as the meen baadi vandi, the motorised fish carts are a fantastic instance of jugaad. They developed from cycle rickshaws by way of steady engineering alterations within the smaller workshops of north Madras over time to primarily meet the wants of the fishing group in transporting cargo.
Rajendran*, who owns a fish cart, says the transformation from a hand-pulled or pedalled cart began with the set up of a low-powered two-wheeler engine. “Their energy was so low that in bridges we needed to push them,” he says. Step by step, the low-powered engines gave approach for highly effective ones. “Engines from bike fashions like Rajdoot and Chetak had been extra widespread,” he says.
Rajasekar*, one other cart proprietor, says whereas the alterations elevated the carts’ energy, the rudimentary brakes they used weren’t efficient in controlling the autos in the event that they sped up. This resulted in lots of highway accidents involving these carts, which finally led to the Madras Excessive Courtroom banning the autos primarily based on a public curiosity litigation petition filed by activist ‘Site visitors’ Ramaswamy.
“If an car firm helped us in designing higher brakes, and if the federal government was prepared to register the autos with some rules, the ban needn’t have occurred,” says Mr. Rajasekar, including that they used the car predominantly contained in the Kasimedu space, avoiding the principle roads.
There’s a tendency to underplay the numbers and significance of those carts. Whereas many autos could possibly be simply noticed within the space, Mr. Rajendran says solely few tens of autos had been plying in Kasimedu. “Vehicles and mini-trucks have largely changed us. A couple of of us nonetheless stay. Boat house owners use us primarily to move tuna fish, that are exported, or to eliminate unsaleable fish,” he says.
M.D. Dayalan of the Indian Fishermen Affiliation from Kasimedu, nevertheless, says the carts had been nonetheless an integral a part of the fishing enterprise regardless that they’ve significantly lowered in numbers. “A couple of hundred of them will simply be there, however many have eliminated the motors,” he says, and provides that they’re nonetheless indispensable as they’re handy for fast shutting for shorter distances in slim areas.
*Names modified as per request