Caring little for police as well as local administration, transporters have increased fares by up to 150 percent, perturbing the passengers leaving for their hometowns to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with their near and dear ones, an anecdotal survey conducted by Business Recorder revealed on Thursday.
Talking to Business Recorder, spokesperson for National Highway and Motorway Police (North Zone), Aftab Aslam confirmed overcharging and overloading by transporters on GT Road as well as on motorways. Police fine drivers (Rs 750-1500) for overloading and overcharging, said Aslam adding that police also recover from drivers extra money minted from passengers to give it the latter.
As the Eid-ul-Azha is approaching fast, most of residents of twin cities (Islamabad & Rawalpindi) are leaving for their hometowns to celebrate the religious festival with their families. Huge crowds of passengers can be witnessed at Pir Wadhai General Bus Stand, G-9 Islamabad Bus Stand and Faizabad Bus Stand.
Taking full advantage of the situation, the inter-city transporters are fleecing passengers and overcharging even more than two times the normal fare as the passengers want to reach their hometowns before the Eid. Transporters plying air-conditioned coaches on routes to Larkana, Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and other upper Sindh destinations have increased fares by more than Rs 200-300 per seat. Transporters are charging Rs 400-500 per passenger for Mardan and Peshawar compared to the normal fares of Rs 230 and Rs 260 respectively. The fare for Lahore has also been increased by around Rs 200 per seat by different bus/hiace owners at different bus stands.
As the number of public transport vehicles is less to accommodate the passengers, the local transporters are fleecing them by overcharging. This situation often results in exchange of hot words between transporters and commuters when the former are not ready to accept fare increase by the transporters at their own.
The district administration has directed the transporters to charge fixed fares from passengers, otherwise their route permits would be cancelled and they would be fined. However, passengers at different bus stands maintained that authorities have yet again failed to take action against those transporters who overcharge as there is no mechanism to check fares. It is a well known practice that transporters keep fares high during Eid days.
Criticizing the government, commuters were of the opinion that neither the local administration nor the district governments are showing any interest in punishing the transporters. Ahmad Khan, a passenger leaving for Peshawar, said that the transporters do not park their vehicles on bus stands just to blackmail the passengers.
The NH&MP spokesperson said that passengers should cooperate with motorway police and inform on help line 130 if any transporters charge extra fare or misbehave with them. Four special control rooms have also been established on GT Road (N-5, North Zone) especially to facilitate the road users. He said that passengers should contact on Khairabad control 0923695043, Jhelum control 0544647364, Gujranwal control 0556816100 and Murree control 03049256202 in case drivers overcharge or overload.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Motorway Police North Zone, Abbas Ahsan has informed that most of the people travel through GT Road (N-5, North Zone) to visit their hometowns and celebrate Eid-ul-Azha there. On this event, transporters charge extra fare from the passengers and misbehave with them. Moreover, the tendency of overloading of passengers and goods by the transporters to earn more is also observed during the Eid vacations.
The DIG informed that all SSPs, DSPs, operations officers and field staff of N-5 North Zone have been directed to check overcharging and overloading of passengers in public vehicles, especially during Eid days. The checking will be carried out surprisingly at different places. On spot strict action, including returning of overcharged fare and imposing of heavy penalty, will be taken against the delinquent transporters. Warning banners/streamers containing the messages avoiding overcharging and overloading would be erected at different places.
The DIG informed that 12 special squads have been deployed to counter the miscreants and control crime during Eid-ul-Azha vacations. One squad will serve in each beat, as most of the people carry valuables while travelling on GT Road. The DIG has directed that free flow of traffic would be ensured so that road users reach their native homes safely.