KARACHI, April 1: The office bearers of the Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI) on Friday appealed to owners of all buses, minibuses and coaches to run their vehicles on roads on April 2, saying the Sindh governor and the provincial transport minister had assured them of increasing public transport fares.

In a joint statement, the KTI chief, Irshad Bukhari, and General Secretary Malik Khalid Awan said transporters had been protesting against increase in petroleum prices for over three months, but the KTI had decided not to take part in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s (MMA) strike, as the government had allowed them to increase transport fares.

They said both the governor and the Sindh transport minister had assured providing Rs2.7 million as rent for vehicles taken by the government forcibly, compensation for torched vehicles, issuance of route permits, and resolution of other problems facing the transporters’ community.

The KTI office-bearers said they decided to bring vehicles on roads on April 2 after the Sindh chief secretary and the IG police assured transporters the other day that vehicles would be provided protection during the MMA strike and damages would be compensated.

“After assurances from the Sindh governor, transport minister, chief secretary and the IGP Sindh, the KTI has decided to run vehicles on roads,” they said, appealing to other transporters to reject the strike call and bring all vehicles on the roads.

The office bearers of the Anjuman-i-Ittehad-i-Bus Malikan Karachi have also disassociated themselves from the MMA’s strike call for April 2.

In a joint statement on Friday, the organisation’s Muhammad Ashraf Banglori, Choudhry Mazhar Hussain, Lala Sultan, Choudhry Riaz and Nazeer Banglori said the transporters’ community would not participate in the strike.—PPI/APP