Transporters plying on local routes of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have threatened to observe complete wheel jam if government failed to revise fares of public transport in the wake of increase in fuel prices.
"We will wait for two days and then increase the fares ourselves and if the government resisted this move, we will go off road", said Malik Shabir Awan, Senior Vice President Muttahida Transport Union (MTU) here on Saturday while talking to Business Recorder.
He said that if government failed to announce new fare schedule all the vehicles plying on local routes would be taken off till government fulfils demands of the transporters. "We also have to earn bread for our children and have an investment of millions of rupees, if we will go in loss what will be our future", he asked.
The rates of other automobile accessories including tyres, engine oil etc have also increased, which has made running of vehicle on road difficult for them. He said that fares of long routes have already been increased and buses and coaches operating from Pirwadhai have announced new schedule of fares. No one has asked them as why are they charging extra fare while we are being forced to charge as per the fare table, he said.
When asked about the new fare schedule, Shabir Awan said that MTU has informed government to fix Rs 10 per stop fare in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, while the long route fare should be fixed Rs 20 at least. To a question about other unions, MTU leader said that all the unions of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are in co-ordination with MTU and transporters are united under MTU banner.