May 25, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12,1423

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HUB, May 24: Activities were badly affected at the units of Lasbela Industrial Estate Development Authority as the transporters of Sindh and Balochistan blocked the RCD Highway for more than 10 hours on Friday.

Coach drivers, plying between Karachi and Quetta and other parts of Balochistan, blocked the highway at Lucky, some eight kilometres south of here, at around 4am as part of their strike against the shifting of their bus-stands in two Karachi areas.

They were also protesting against the alleged discrimination of Gulshan and Lyari towns’ Nazims.

Workers of different industrial units, who were either going to their homes or were coming to work, were forced to stop at Lucky, causing a complete halt in business activities and loss of millions of rupees.

Activities at the Gadani Ship Breaking Yard were also affected, as no vehicle was allowed to go to Karachi. The strike paralyzed life in Hub and other towns of the Lasbela district, where attendance in offices and schools remained thin.

At 10am when this correspondent visited the Lucky point, more than 300 vehicles were standing while the passengers were compelled to go on foot towards Hub and Karachi.

Later, a meeting was reportedly held between the transporters and government officials.

The transporters alleged that Gulshan and Lyari towns’ Nazims were trying to deprive them of their livelihood, as they had passed orders to shift their bus stops in Lee Market and Old Sabzi Mandi.

The transporters called off their strike and ended the blockade of the highway after the authorities assured them that their problems would be solved as soon as possible.

DEMANDS: Balochistan’s transporters have demanded immediate release of the detained transporters and return of their buses and coaches impounded by the Karachi police and administration, reports our staff correspondent from Quetta.

Quetta-Khuzdar-Karachi Coaches Association President Haji Jumma Khan Badani made these demand, while speaking at a press conference here.

He alleged that the Karachi administration had launched a discriminative drive against Balochistan’s transporters and had impounded many coaches, buses, detaining their staff in the past few days.

Mr Badani also demanded the establishment of a general bus-stand in Karachi to collect transporters from all over the country.