DC assures PTI of reduction in transport fares

Wednesday, March 03, 2010 Mumtaz Alvi Islamabad Deputy Commissioner (Islamabad) Aamir Ali Ahmad assured the agitating Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) activists here on Tuesday that public transport fares would be reviewed downward within 24 hours. PTI workers again blocked the Malpur Chowk Road (Murree Road) Tuesday for a couple of hours and agreed to move away after they were assured later on by the deputy commissioner during a meeting with their delegation that fares would be reviewed by Wednesday. Playing smart, the local PTI leadership left over 250 activists behind, when Regional Transport Authority (Islamabad) Secretary Chaudhry Bashir, reaching on the scene, requested them for a meeting with the deputy commissioner. They did so to again disrupt traffic, if the administration played any trick with them. “We pointed out to the deputy commissioner that why transporters, shuttling on Rawalpindi-Islamabad routes have been immorally benefited by the Punjab transport secretary last month, as those plying vehicles within Islamabad have kept their fares unchanged,” said Amir Mughal, who is PTI’s local General Secretary, while talking to ‘The News’. Amir Mughal contended it was sheer injustice with the poor voiceless commuters, who could neither afford buying a car or nor hire a taxi to move between his residence and place of work, that he was paying 50 per cent more and on some slabs 70 to 80 per cent more fare without any reason or justification. He said that the deputy commissioner was convinced that a wrong had been committed, which needed to be rectified and he promised to talk to RTA secretary Rawalpindi and Punjab transport secretary and got reviewed the fares within 24 hours. The PTI local general secretary, who was part of the meeting with the deputy commissioner cautioned that if the fares were not cut, they would stage a sit-in on Faizabad intersection and not allow vans to enter Islamabad, in case they kept charging fares according to the fare list issued last month. This correspondent learnt during interviews with transporters and drivers that before the unprecedented hike in fares, they earned Rs1800-2200 daily, whereas now, their earning had massively jumped, hitting a staggering figure of Rs3,200 to 3,600 per day. Earlier, PTI activists blocked the road for nearly three hours. DSP Liaquat Niazi also visited them and requested them to end the protest, which they did, but not without being given a categorical assurance from the Islamabad administration about reduction in fares.