LAHORE, Nov 3 (Reuters) – For 13 years, Rashid Ali has driven a three-wheeled motorised rickshaw around Lahore in eastern Pakistan.
His day starts at 6 a.m. 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.
LPG prices have surged since October 17, when two Iranian border crossings closed, halting imports, traders say, in the latest energy shock since the US-Iran war began in February.
With Ali now lucky to make $3 a day, his family has cut back on meals, eating only twice a day.
“Previously, when LPG was cheap, we could earn a decent income,” Ali said. “Now, it’s just not possible to get by on seven or eight hundred (rupees), is it?”
Before the border closures, Pakistan imported about 7,000 metric tons of LPG a day from Iran, the Pakistan LPG Association said.
Traders said the price of a 12-kg cylinder jumped 56% within days of the closure to 7,000 Pakistani rupees, or about 583 rupees per kg in the open market.
The government of Balochistan, the southern province that borders Iran, cited security and smuggling for the decision; Iran’s foreign ministry said technical issues were to blame. Iran’s ambassador later said Iran had imposed no restrictions, including on LPG exports, and blamed changes in Pakistan’s import paperwork.
WALKING AWAY
Ali pays 600 rupees a day to rent his rickshaw, filling up with gas four or five times a day, at 300 to 400 rupees a time.
As well as daily expenses, Ali also pays 11,000 rupees a month for his home and has two young children to support.
Adding to his problems, passengers, he said, do not want to pay higher fares.
“For a trip that should cost 200 or 250 rupees, they might only offer 80, 100, or 150 rupees,” Ali said.
Passenger Mohammad Ramzan said when a driver asked 500 rupees for a ride in the city, he offered half that. When the driver declined, he walked away, he said.
Inflation in Pakistan hit 9.6% in October, and the central bank last week raised interest rates to 12%, citing energy and wheat prices. Petrol hit a record 458 rupees a litre on April 3 and remains about 40% above its pre-war price.
Back home at midday, Ali said his two boys still needed their lunch. He would go out again until late at night, he said, hoping to make enough to bring something for the children to eat at night.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Islamabad; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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