Students suffer as KU shuttle bus service in run-down condition

The shuttles of Karachi University are in run-down condition pushing thousands of students to undergo commuting problems amid poor law and order and reduced public transport in the city. The total fleet of 32 buses, which are meant to provide transportation to students of the university commuting from across the metropolis, is set to ruin unchecked for mismanagement, according to sources at the varsity.
"Some five buses of the university ceased operation for lack maintenance, leaving the total fleet 27, which is feared to vanish if proper maintenance was not ensured by the concerned quarters," they viewed. Ultimately the students, they said, will suffer if the university failed to provide its bus service to the students which are in thousands.
Sources said thousands of students were facing hardships due to the mismanagement by the university management, after it stopped plying shuttle service for its evening programme, making feeble excuses of shortage of fuel. Sources said hundreds of litres of fuel stolen every month the by staff members of transport department of the varsity as there was no proper monitoring system to stop such malpractices, being committed.
"Every month, hundreds of liters of diesel have been stolen in connivance with crooked staff members of the transport department, making it difficult for the students to avail cheap commuting facility," a student of KU told this correspondent. Sources said university has set aside only one lakh seventy five thousands per month as contingency amount for transport department. The monthly revenue from the shuttles service is approximately Rs 0.75 million while fuel consumption is Rs 5 million per month which shows a big gap between revenue and expenses.
They said that 2700 non-teaching employees and 7,000 teaching staff were working in the university and most of them rely on transport facility. It is also learnt that university management had already banned entry of private vehicles in the premises due to security reasons, which have doubled the burden on transport department.