Muttahida Rickshaw-Taxi Drivers Union Punjab has criticised the Punjab government for banning manufacturing of two-stroke auto rickshaws and pick-up vans in the province and said it will add to unemployment. Addressing a news conference here on Sunday, Union's Chairman Asghar Mahmand, Vice Chairman Kamil Khan, President Munir Ahmed Khan, general Secretary Syed Wali Shah and other office-bearers said that the government has banned two stroke vehicles, saying that they are spreading pollution, which is not correction.
As a matter of fact, they claimed, substandard mobile oil used in such vehicles is actual source of smoke pollution. This problem, the added, could be overcome by checking substandard engine oil, which is being sold every where. Similarly the problem of noise could also be addressed by use of quality silencers in auto rickshaws as has been done in NWFP and Quetta.
"We had also given this suggestion to the authorities of Punjab government but they ignored it." When pointed out by reporters that the government has just banned manufacturing of two stroke vehicles while there is no such ban on plying on existing two-stroke vehicles, they said that the next move of the government will be to do so.