Forty-year-old Hasan, a Qingqi rickshaw driver, who plies his three-wheeler on the Nipa Chowrangi-Aisha Manzil route, leaves home early in the morning and runs his rickshaw until midnight to support his family of five.
But even then, he has been unable to enroll his children to school. “I cannot send my children to school,” he says. “My eldest son is already going to a workshop.”
Hasan makes about Rs 1,200 daily, but at the end of the day, he is left with only Rs 300 to support his family. “My hard-earned money goes to extortionists and traffic police.”
The Qingqi driver says he has no other option but to pay the extortionists.
“Police, government officials, political parties, all of them back extortionists,” he laments.
Each Qingqi driver has to pay around Rs 12,000 to traffic police posts established along their routes. Traffic policemen also impose fines on them to show their efficiency.
“Apart from the police, the people who started the Qingqi service now claim ownership of these routes and collecting money from the drivers plying on their routes,” Hasan explains. “They are powerful people and enjoy political backing.”
Another Qingqi driver, who wished not to be named, says he purchased his rickshaw on lease and now he is struggling to return the loan.
“If want to live in Karachi, you have to pay extortion money,” he says.
Traders and businessmen, backed by a political party, observed a shutter-down strike in Karachi on Saturday to protest the increasing incidence of extortion in the city.
However, the people from the lower-middle class believe that strikes are not enough to uproot the bane of extortion and the government needs to take concrete action.
Qingqi Association president Akbar Khan says the association has submitted a proposal to the government seeking permits for Qingqi routes.
“The people, who started the service, have spent money on different routes and they are collecting money from the drivers to smoothly run the service.
