10 November 2004	Wednesday	26 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Nov 9: Despite being declared as an unfriendly vehicle some circles in the province are trying to get the Ching Chee rickshaws regularized.

Urban centres of the NWFP, including Peshawar, Mardan, Swat, Kohat, Swabi and remote areas like Tank, Lakki Marwat, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan have experienced substantial growth in the number of these rickshaws, a specially-designed public transport which involves an iron-made cart connected with a motorbike from behind.

The provincial EPA, official sources said, had opposed the introduction of these rickshaws long ago due to their adverse effects on the environment.

Environmental experts say that driven by motorbikes with two-stroke engines, Ching Chee rickshaws, were producing poisonous carbon monoxide gas (CO), which is injurious to human health, particularly lungs and brain.

The EPA's opposition to their introduction was based on the fact that air quality in most of the urban centres of the province had deteriorated to alarming proportions because of vehicular traffic and smoke from the exhausts of industrial units, brick kilns and the burning of solid waste in open air.

Similarly, the traffic police had also opposed to grant them approval on the pretext that they lacked road safety because of their design and would add to traffic mess in the urban centres, where roads have already become insufficient.

"These add to atmospheric and noise pollution because of inferior quality engines," said a senior officer of EPA, NWFP.

A study conducted in 1995, revealed that the level of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides in several places of Peshawar was much higher than the international standards determined by the World Health Organization.

"One can imagine that the situation has gone worse since the last survey was conducted in 1995 to know air quality in different localities of Peshawar," said the officer.

He said that despite opposition by the EPA and the traffic police the number of these rickshaws had grown up in the recent past.

Information gathered from officials of the Excise and Taxation department, EPA, provincial transport authority (PTA), regional transport authority (RTA), district transport authority and traffic police revealed that the tri-wheelers, are plying without having been issued route permits.

"We can't do anything to stop them from plying on city roads," said an official of the traffic police. The police, he added, could only fine them under section 44, 106 of the motor vehicle ordinance for plying without route permits.

Officials of the regional transport authority and district transport authority, when contacted, admitted that the these rickshaws were plying without legal cover.

"There is a ban on the registration of auto-rickshaws with two-stroke engines in the Peshawar and Swat districts hence Ching Chee rickshaws of the same engine capacity are also not allowed for registration," said an officer.

Despite the fact that Ching Chee rickshaws, said an EPA officer, were against the policy of the provincial government, efforts were afoot on the part of certain circles within the regional transport authority to make changes in the policy which aimed at replacing auto rickshaws driven by two-stroke engines with the ones contained four or at least three-stroke engines.

"Chief minister Akram Khan Durrani would shortly be made a presentation on the issue and it is hoped that he would validate these new rickshaws making changes in the existing policy," said an officer of the provincial transport authority.

Officials said that the Ching Chee rickshaws introduced on the Gulbahar- Lahori route of the Peshawar city district government's town-1, were without lawful authority.