Amid curfew, tonga rides make a comeback in Haridwar
HARIDWAR: Before the imposition of Covid curfew about a month ago, tongas or horsedrawn carriages were the last option for pilgrims and local people for commuting in Haridwar.
Now with curfew restrictions in place and fewer modes of transport available, many commuters fall back on tongas for travel in the city.
The horse-drawn carriages are particularly used by people coming to Haridwar for ash immersion rites – they take tongas from the railway station and bus stand, both located close by, to Ganga ghats and return by the same mode.
Tongas remained a preferred low-cost ride for local people and pilgrims till the early 1980s and 90s, when auto-rickshaws and Vikrams (commercial three-wheelers) hit the roads. After the independence, the city had over 180 tongas operating at Har-Ki-Pauri, Kankhal and suburban Jwalapur. Now only half a dozen horse carriages are left, according to the City Tonga Association.
More than 2000 auto-rickshaws and Vikrams now operate in Haridwar.
Since 2015, when ecofriendly battery-operated e-rickshaws were allowed to operate in the city by the municipal corporation, the number of tongas plummeted.
Many tonga owners sold the horses and procured e-rickshaws instead, said Jagdeesh Khatri, 65, the oldest tonga owner in the city.
“First the speedy autos and Vikrams, and then e-rickshaws pushed tongas off the roads. Now only half a dozen tongawallahs struggle to get passengers. During the Covid curfew in the past one month, we have made some income. With limited vehicles plying, some passengers, mostly coming for ash immersion, are using our carriages,” said Khatri, who is also the president of the City Tonga Association.
“But there is no overcharging as we also feel sad that a large number of fatalities are occurring in the country and people are coming for ash immersion. We wish soon the situation becomes normal and pilgrims arrive for the the sacred Ganga dip, and tourists come for viewing temples, Ganga ghats and other scenic places in Haridwar.”
Till a few decades ago, the tonga stand used to be just near Har-Ki-Pauri at Palika market. Now it has been shifted to the railway station. The bus stand is close to the station.
“Tonga passengers are charged ₹10 to ₹15 per ride. Still only a few people use this mode of commute. Aged pilgrims who have been coming to Haridwar for years prefer tongas for short-distance commuting. A few people ride tongas to relive nostalgia or take selfies,” Khatri said.
Avikshit Raman, a teerth purohit , said that till the late 90s and early 2000s, tongas were the link between Har-KiPauri-Shivmoorti square-Rishikul-Chandracharya squareArya Nagar and suburban Jwalapur.
“With a fair of 50 paisa to one rupee, tonga ride was a common man’s safari in the 80s and 90s. It was a daily mode of transport for us, but I don’t remember when I had last availed of a tonga ride. Autos and an increase in private two- and four-wheelers have severely impacted tonga safari,” said Raman.
Tonga drivers said that they are earning just ₹100-200 per day, half of which is spent on fodder for the horses and their maintenance.
Demanding a sheltered stand with water facility,Khatri said that in the summer heat and during rainy days, it’s difficult to wait for passengers in the open.
Tonga operators have fair knowledge about Ganga ghats, temples, muths, ashrams and dharamshalas in the city, and they almost act as guide to pilgrims and tourists.
“Teerth purohits, seers, priests and some young Sanskrit scholars living in saintdominated clusters still prefer tonga ride. But we don’t know how many years more we can sustain ourselves with a paltry income and a high maintenance cost of horses. We love our horses but now we are only six left and it’s hard to imagine whether there will be a single tonga by next Ardh Kumbh in 2028,” said Khatri, who ran a tonga carriage in 1981 on the roads of Haridwar.