On Saturday, Akhtar was among the 21 weavers of Lohta-Kotwa area who were given new cycle-rickshaws by a Guwahati-based NGO Centre for Rural Development (CRD), under the Rickshaw Bank Project funded by the Punjab National Bank (PNB).

“Fifteen years ago, I owned eight handlooms and even employed workers. However, the slump in Banarasi saree market has forced me to a pull a rickshaw to feed my family,” he said. “Through the project, I will be the owner of a rickshaw after just 450 days. Till now, I have been hiring a rickshaw for Rs 25 daily,” he added. Other weavers like Kamalu, Azim Shah, Radhey and Shakil Khan are also the delighted beneficiaries of the scheme.

CRD Chief Coordinator Putul Sharma said: “They have initially paid Rs 350. From now on, they will have to pay Rs 25 daily for 450 days to own the rickshaw. Besides this, they will also be given insurance cover upto Rs 1 lakh in event of death. The insurance will also cover their passengers up to Rs 20,000. Also, the rickshaw drivers now have a savings account with the PNB.”

The NGO has provided two pairs of uniforms to 76 rickshaw drivers, besides taking care of the vehicle’s registration with the Varanasi Municipal Corporation, he added.

Chairman and Managing Director of PNB, K C Chakrabarty, said: “If the project clicks in Varanasi, it will replicated in 99 more cities, starting with Allahabad, Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.”

Sharma said the initiative dates back to 2004. A K Das, a mechanical engineer at IIT-Guwahati, designed an aerodynamic rickshaw, which provided protection from the sun and rain to both the driver and passenger and had more luggage space. The NGO marketed the rickshaw to at least 4,500 rickshaw drivers under similar projects in Guwahati, Surat, Agartala and Chennai. The projects, funded by the ICICI Bank, KCF and Care India, were executed by sister NGOs of CRD, Sharma said.