PESHAWAR, March 1: NWFP Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi on Thursday directed officials concerned to evolve a mechanism under which illegal buses, wagons and rickshaws were taken off the road so that the growing traffic problems of Peshawar were resolved.

He gave these directives during a meeting held here to discuss traffic problems of the city. The meeting was attended by additional chief secretary, secretaries of home, local government and transport departments, IGP, Peshawar district nazim, Capital City Police Officer, Director of City Development and Municipal Department, Peshawar DCO and SP of Traffic.

Mr Qureshi ordered that truck and bus termini should be shifted outside the city and for this purpose the CDMD had been asked to plan and construct the necessary infrastructure.

He said CNG buses should be introduced in the city, adding that a scheme should be launched for providing soft bank loans to transporters so that they could purchase CNG vehicles.

FINE: The provincial Excise and Taxation Department has fined 181 vehicles having illegal or personalised number plates and recovered from the vehicles’ owners a sum of Rs2.2 million as penalty. This was revealed in a letter issued by the director-general for excise and taxation on Thursday.

The letter said the government had activated excise and taxation squads all over the province to proceed against all vehicles having illegal number plates. The squads’ performance was being monitored by the director-general of the department himself.

The letter said that penalties of Rs10,000 and Rs25,000 were being imposed against use of all illegal number plates.

The campaign against illegal number plates would boost the efforts of the government to ensure a better law and order situation in the province, added the letter.