LAHORE, Jan 9: The Punjab Muttahida Rickshaw Taxi Drivers Union has urged the government to solve the rickshaw noise and smoke pollution problems by replacing faulty silencers and controlling the sale of 'refined' mobil oil instead of imposing a ban on two- stroke rickshaws.
Talking to reporters at the Lahore Press Club here on Sunday, Union chairman Asghar Khan Mehmand, secretary-general Syed Wali Shah and other office-bearers said the forced replacement of two-stroke rickshaws with four-stroke would not resolve the noise and smoke problems as long as the use of faulty silencers and 'refined' mobil oil was not controlled.
Both the problems had already been solved in Quetta and Peshawar in the same manner. They said the rickshaws emitted smoke due to the use of refined mobil oil.
The oil was being sold not only at most of petrol pumps but also at all the 1,100 LPG sale points in Lahore because the government agencies responsible for checking its sale were not performing their duty. The smoke problem could be solved by ensuring the availability of quality mobil oil at the petrol pumps and LPG sale points.
The government, they said, had decided to phase out the two-stroke rickshaws at a time when the income of drivers and owners were falling due to increase in petrol and LPG prices. Not only the petrol price had crossed Rs40 per litre, the LPG price had also increased from Rs22 per kg to Rs60 per kg.
Owners could not even think of acquiring new rickshaws when they were finding it difficult to earn a living on account of continuous decrease in income. They also questioned the logic of imposing a ban on registration of new two-stroke rickshaws when four-stroke rickshaws were neither being manufactured in the country nor imported.
They said the government should ensure free availability of four-stroke rickshaws at competitive price if it wanted to replace the two-stroke. Forced replacement efforts would fail like the unsuccessful attempts made to promote the use of costly CNG kits instead of the low-cost LPG last year.
The union, they said, would not accept the ban on two-stroke rickshaws and would protest by observing a black day and hunger strike. They would also not cast votes in the forthcoming local government elections.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the Punjab Transport Department said in a statement that the government had decided to impose a complete ban on the use of new two-stroke rickshaws as public transport from Jan 1 in the light of a directive issued by the Supreme Court to provincial governments taking suo moto notice of the environmental pollution being caused due their smoke.
He said the department had decided to ban the use of new two-stroke rickshaws as public transport after consultations with the manufacturers, Environment Protection Department and Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority.
A ban had been imposed on the issuance of fitness certificates and route permits for new two-stroke rickshaws but fitness certificates and route permits issued before Jan 1 this year would continue to be renewed till the expiry of the three-year grace period allowed for their replacement with the four-stroke engine rickshaws, he added.
