KARACHI, Nov 29: Route permits for the public transport are being violated, causing losses to the provincial exchequer, Dawn learnt here on Thursday.
Sources said the violation of route permits was rampant and the authority concerned was not taking notice of the violation. They said 50 per cent buses, minibuses and coaches, reaching Saddar, did not have route permits.
An official in the transport department said the government had been deprived of revenue through route permits due to ongoing violation, but if stern action was taken against the violators, the transport operators could call a strike causing trouble to commuters.
Giving some instances, the sources said minibuses were plying route No.16, from Bhains Colony, Landhi, to Saddar and most of them did not possess the valid route permit. Various minibus operators, plying their vehicles this route, either did not have route permits or they had the permit of another route but they were operating their vehicles on this route which was a sheer violation of route permits.
A route of F-5 had been granted by the authority which started from Nai Basti somewhere in Korangi and terminated at Pakistan Chowk. But the minibuses using this route, set their passengers down at Saddar and they did not go to their prescribed stop at Pakistan Chowk. Most of the minibuses, plying on this route, did not have valid route permits, the sources added.
Similarly, most of the minibuses on routes No C-1 and C-2, plying between Korangi Industrial Area and Saddar, also did not possess the route permits of the same route but there was no authority to check the violation.
The sources said the authority had granted a route permit to six buses from Quaidabad to the Port Bin Qasim but in violation of the order, 17 buses were plying the route.
They said the long buses on route 4-B, from Muslimabad, New Karachi, to Saddar, were plying under the supervision of the Karachi Public-Transport Society (KPTS). This route had earlier been granted to the defunct Karachi Transport Corporation. Air- conditioned long buses had been plied this route and over the period the air-conditioners had gone out of order in most of the buses.
In some buses, there were no windowpanes and they were not fit to be on roads. The buses, plying this route, were the buses owned by the defunct KTC, and they were later auctioned. The KPTS, according to its terms, should allow the buses of model 1995 and subsequent to ply but all of the KTC auctioned buses were prior to 1995 and they did not meet the KPTS condition.
However, KPTS Administrator Shamsuddin Abro said the buses were new and they were imported under the Prime Minister’s yellow cab scheme in 1993. He said these buses were lying at port and getting damaged. These buses were auctioned through tenders saving them from further damage.
He said the KPTS could allow the buses of 1993 model provided they were zero-meter. He said the airconditioners of the buses were not working properly and the operators were allowed to switch off the airconditioners. The fares of those buses who air- conditioners had been removed had been lowered.
