LPG soars in Pakistan, forcing rickshaw drivers to cut meals
For 13 years, Rashid Ali has driven a three-wheeled motorised rickshaw around Lahore. His day starts at 6am and sometimes does not end until midnight, but he was long able to make $6.50 a day — enough for his family's bare essentials. Now, with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices surging, he doesn't even make half that. Ali, 33, is among thousands of Pakistani drivers who run their vehicles on LPG, which is sold in cylinders and mainly used for cooking and heating. Majeed Ghauri, chairman of the Awami Rickshaw Union, calls it "the fuel of the poor". He said about 70% of its members' 43,000 auto-rickshaws and nearly 8,000 Qingqis — motorcycle-based three-wheelers that carry several passengers on set routes — run on LPG.