HYDERABAD, Feb 8: Taxi drivers on Saturday staged out a rally to protest against imposition of parking fee by the taluka councils.

The rally, which began from the Gharib Nawaz Bridge, terminated at the local press club.

Later, representatives of the Mini Taxi workers’ Union, while talking to newsmen, termed the decision to impose parking fee, saying that the move would increase the financial burden on the taxi drivers.

Criticizing the decision to grant permission to ply busses on Jamshoro-Husri route, they said that it had already affected their business and the charged parking would compound their problems.

Demanding cancellation of bus permit on Jamshoro-Husri route, they said that no vehicle should be allowed to pick and drop passengers from their route.

Describing the imposition of parking fee a form of government-patronized extortion, they called upon the government to cancel the parking fee contract, threatening of resorting to extreme measures if their demands were not met.

They accused the Nazims of union council of not doing their jobs properly, saying that they (the Nazims) had awarded contract for collecting parking fee to their relatives, adding that they were extorting taxi drivers everywhere in the city.

HUNGER STRIKE: Workers of the Sindh People’s Students Federation-SB and the Doctors’ Forum-SB on Saturday staged a token hunger strike outside the local press club to protest against the delay in the dispensation of justice in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case.