PESHAWAR, Dec 20: The lack of coordination among various departments, dealing transport matters, has been causing problems for the general public as well as losses to the national kitty, officials sources said.

A rough total of the public transport vehicles in the NWFP is 258,000 — 13,000 buses, 23,500 minibuses, 105,000 trucks, 15,000 rickshaws and 115,000 other vehicles.

The officials said that the number of the unregistered vehicles might be more than double of the registered ones, which caused approximately Rs50 million losses annually to the national exchequer.

“The existing transport system is under various departments, such as traffic police, excise & taxation, motor vehicles examination department, environmental protection agency, regional transport authorities, district transport authorities and directorate of transport. The involvement of many departments has crippled the functioning of transport system throughout the province,” the officials said.

Unlike other provinces where full-fledged transport departments work under a secretary, in the NWFP the transport department has been placed under secretary environment, who remained preoccupied with other matters.

Among the basic functions of the directorate of transport are, issuance of route permits, fixation of fares, classification of roads and bus stands. Officials of the department say that they do not have the required work force and the resources to check vehicles.

The officials said the Punjab government had placed a special police force at the disposal of the transport department to carry out checking of the vehicles, documents and date of manufacture etc.

After the implementation of the devolution plan in August 2001, the system had become even more intricate for the people connected with the transport business.

The government had established district transport authorities at every district of the province, but the transporters still visited Peshawar for the solution of their problems.