Canadian minister Stockwell Day with the auto driver in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Jan. 21: If the poison-belchers in Calcutta need an incentive to go green, this is it: an LPG autorickshaw has beaten a fleet of Mercedes in Hyderabad.

Stockwell Day, Canada’s minister for international trade, was offered his pick of the Mercs lined up at ITC Kakatiya but he called for an auto instead. The travel desk at Kakatiya tried to dissuade the minister, in the city to open the Canadian Trade Office.

“Sir, the rickshaws are dirty, you may catch flu or infections,” Day was told.

“What a bother! Let me give it a go. I have done it at Agra and Delhi and I want to try it in Hyderabad as well,” he responded.

Auto-drivers, take note: Agra and Delhi, too, have switched to the clean CNG. Most autos in Hyderabad run on LPG, but it’s not known if Day asked for a green vehicle.

Three autos were scanned by security staff and brought in. Day hopped into one for a 4km ride to the hotel where he was staying, the Taj Krishna. The other two served as his pilot and escort vehicles.

Krishna is also the hotel where then tourism minister Renuka Chowdhury had started a campaign last year to educate taxi and auto drivers on how they should treat foreign visitors. One of the lessons was they should not overcharge passengers.

Day asked to be driven 12km to Charminar. But the security staff persuaded him to make the shorter trip to his hotel instead. They also made the minister take the flyover, where he got off the auto to take a good look at the busy roads below that he had been kept off. An inspector of the city security wing, Saleem, accompanied him.

At the end of the 15-minute ride, the meter read Rs 27. Day first handed the driver, Lokesh, a Rs 20 note but spying a smirk, gave him two hundred-rupee notes. Lokesh, who clearly didn’t care for Renuka’s lessons, pocketed the cash happily and posed for a picture.