23 February 2004	Monday	02 Muharram 1425

HARIPUR, Feb 22: About 25 unregistered bus stands have been operating in the city limits in violation of traffic rules. Of these illegal terminuses, more than half had been set up by the Nazims and Naib Nazims , who operated them either directly or through their frontmen, sources said.

It was observed that all these terminuses, including those approved by the government, lacked basic requirements like waiting rooms, lavatories, drinking water facility and prayer place.

"Transporters are at liberty to declare any place along the roads as bus terminus or parking place. But they provide no facilities there," said a commuter.

When contacted, an official told Dawn that under the rules, district regional transport authority's approval was necessary for establishing a bus terminus.

The DRTA comprised district Nazim as its chairman, while the district police officer, two Nazims, a representative of transporters and the DRTA secretary were its members.

Prior to granting its approval, the authority ensured that all necessary facilities under the law were available at a bus stand, but here the case was totally different, the official said, adding that none of the existing terminuses fulfilled legal requirements.

The illegal bus terminuses not only caused traffic chaos in the city, they also caused a huge loss to the public exchequer as none of them paid any tax. When contacted, DPO Abdullah Khan said he did not approve a single terminus during his tenure.

He said he would soon collect a data of these illegally-run facilities and would take action according to the law. He said the district government was planning to shift all the small terminuses operating on the Tarbela Road and adjoining areas to a single terminus. District Nazim Raja Amer Zaman was not available for comments on the matter.