The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh

Battery powered rickshaws, also known as tomtoms or electric rickshaws are one of the examples of sustainable vehicles in Bangladesh. Even though these local vehicles are supposed to be the “greening solution” for our transportation system, these were banned by the government of Bangladesh due to...

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Tác giả chính: Shome, Sristi
Định dạng: Luận văn
Ngôn ngữ:Tiếng Anh
Được phát hành: AUW 2025
Truy cập trực tuyến:https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/288
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author Shome, Sristi
author_facet Shome, Sristi
author_sort Shome, Sristi
collection institutional Repository
description Battery powered rickshaws, also known as tomtoms or electric rickshaws are one of the examples of sustainable vehicles in Bangladesh. Even though these local vehicles are supposed to be the “greening solution” for our transportation system, these were banned by the government of Bangladesh due to the increased amount of accidents and lack or expertise of the rickshaw drivers in generating these rickshaws on the streets. In this research, we have studied the environmental and health impacts from a broader perspective. For our study, we have used two major methodologies which are qualitative in depth interviews and laboratory analysis. In our qualitative interviews, we have interviewed twenty five rickshaw drivers and twenty five local citizens and analysied the results using transcription and thematic analysis. The rest of the study was done using our major laboratory analysis called Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectoscropy using ED-XRF analyser. Our key findings of the study are behavioral problems, health problems such as diarrhea, asthmatic symptoms, and behavioral problems among the children of the rickshaw pullers. This indicates the exposure of heavy metal contamination among them where our key metals were Pb, Cr and Cd. Our laboratory results confirmed that there were extreme pollution of the heavy metals. Among three of the major heavy metal concentration we found, all were present in extremely higher amount in the study zones that is the potential cause of these health and behavioral issues among the rickshaw drivers. Also, the overall concentrations stated that Cd was found in higher amount compared to lead. The serial we found in concentration goes as Cd>Pb>Cr. There were several other laboratory tests done to confirm the contamination of sulfuric acid in the study zones. Overall, further studies is needed to ensure the safety of these rickshaw drivers and their work environment.
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spelling 123456789-2882026-02-18T06:09:53Z The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh Shome, Sristi Battery powered rickshaws, also known as tomtoms or electric rickshaws are one of the examples of sustainable vehicles in Bangladesh. Even though these local vehicles are supposed to be the “greening solution” for our transportation system, these were banned by the government of Bangladesh due to the increased amount of accidents and lack or expertise of the rickshaw drivers in generating these rickshaws on the streets. In this research, we have studied the environmental and health impacts from a broader perspective. For our study, we have used two major methodologies which are qualitative in depth interviews and laboratory analysis. In our qualitative interviews, we have interviewed twenty five rickshaw drivers and twenty five local citizens and analysied the results using transcription and thematic analysis. The rest of the study was done using our major laboratory analysis called Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectoscropy using ED-XRF analyser. Our key findings of the study are behavioral problems, health problems such as diarrhea, asthmatic symptoms, and behavioral problems among the children of the rickshaw pullers. This indicates the exposure of heavy metal contamination among them where our key metals were Pb, Cr and Cd. Our laboratory results confirmed that there were extreme pollution of the heavy metals. Among three of the major heavy metal concentration we found, all were present in extremely higher amount in the study zones that is the potential cause of these health and behavioral issues among the rickshaw drivers. Also, the overall concentrations stated that Cd was found in higher amount compared to lead. The serial we found in concentration goes as Cd>Pb>Cr. There were several other laboratory tests done to confirm the contamination of sulfuric acid in the study zones. Overall, further studies is needed to ensure the safety of these rickshaw drivers and their work environment. 2025-05-04T08:46:50Z 2025-05-04T08:46:50Z 2023-05 Thesis https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/288 en application/pdf AUW
spellingShingle Shome, Sristi
The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh
title The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh
title_full The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh
title_fullStr The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh
title_full_unstemmed The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh
title_short The Overlooked Health & Environmental Cost of Lead Acid Battery Powered Rickshaws in Chattogram, Bangladesh
title_sort overlooked health environmental cost of lead acid battery powered rickshaws in chattogram bangladesh
url https://repository.auw.edu.bd/handle/123456789/288
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AT shomesristi overlookedhealthenvironmentalcostofleadacidbatterypoweredrickshawsinchattogrambangladesh