Hundreds of rickshaw drivers on Sunday staged a demonstration in front of the local Press Club as a protest against the imposition of ban on the two-stroke rickshaws and prohibiting the use of LPG cylinders in rickshaws. They alleged that the step has been taken to get kickback in four-stroke Chinese rickshaws. They threatened to observe hunger strike unto death and a wheel jam strike from May 24 if their demands were not met.
Later, addressing a press conference Muhammad Javed Sabir, chairman of All Punjab Rickshaw, Taxi Unions' Federation, along with senior vice-chairman Rab Nawab, senior vice-president Malik Ghulam Sarwar Awan, vice-president Saeed Ahmed Sagar, United Rickshaw Driver Union's general secretary Syed Wali Shah, Punjab; Pukhtoon Association's president Haji Moosa Khan, general secretary of the Multan Muslim Motor Rickshaw Association, Shaikh Abbas said that there was no complaint against the LPG cylinders while reports about CNG blasts received from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.
"The USA, Canada, Japan and other developed countries are using LPG for running their buses and other transport but the Punjab government is imposing ban on it," they said. There would be no smoke-emitting rickshaw on the road and no noise or air pollution within six months if the government takes them into confidence and implement their suggestions, like ensuring supply of good quality lubricants, Mobil oil, crackdown against manufacturers of spurious Mobil oil, supply of good quality silencers and other spare parts.
They urged the provincial government to promote local manufacturers of four-stroke rickshaws instead of importing rickshaws from China.
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