LAHORE, Oct 6: The District Regional Transport Authority chairman, District Coordination Officer Khalid Sultan, on Monday directed Daewoo to shift its inter-city bus terminal and workshop outside the prohibited zone and ordered issuance of a disenfranchisement notice to Monolite Transport for failure to bring in buses in accordance with the induction plan.

The DCO disagreed with Daewoo manager’s argument that the Ferozepur Road inter-city terminal and Rehmanpura workshop should be allowed to function at the existing locations because these had been established before the area was included in the prohibited zone. He said stands of flying coaches and airconditioned buses had also been shifted to the Badami Bagh General Bus Stand despite the fact that these had been established before the area was included in the prohibited zone.

Ordering renewal of the Daewoo bus terminal licence temporarily till June next year to enable the company to submit a plan for shifting it outside the prohibited zone, he said allowing Daewoo to operate its bus stand and workshop within the prohibited zone and denying others the facility would be discriminatory.

DRTA secretary Khalid Mahmood Mela said earlier that the New Khan Transport Company had filed a writ petition in the Lahore High Court after being refused a licence for establishing its inter-city terminal opposite the Daewoo on Ferozepur Road. He said the DRTA would not allow the misuse of franchise facility and franchise routes not only after the induction of the required number of buses on routes but also after the establishment of proper bus terminals and recruitment of trained drivers in accordance with the agreement as the government was paying a heavy cost for it.

He did not agree with the contention of the Baloch Transport representative that the company had failed to induct buses in accordance with the agreed plan due to a delay in delivery by the manufacturers, and observed that Monolite and Baloch routes could be disenfranchised for failure to induct buses in accordance with the agreed plans.

Sanctioning two new wagon routes from the railway station to Thokar Niaz Beg and the railway station to Nizamabad, the DRTA chairman said these would be meant only for the wagons diverted from other routes. No new wagon route permit should be issued for these routes. He did not agree with the Premier Bus Service manager’s proposal to curtail the wagon route on Walton Road as it overlapped their franchised bus route, extend the R.A. Bazaar-railway station bus route to Minar-i-Pakistan and sanction a new bus route from Bagarian to new airport as a non-franchised airconditioned bus service had started operating between the railway station and airport. He agreed with the proposal to start a new bus route from Gulshan-i-Ravi to airport.

The DRTA chairman also sanctioned establishment of private bus stands near Thokar Niaz Beg on Multan Road and near Daroghawala on the GT Road. He said private bus stands should be developed and plots commercialized only after the DRTA approval.