May 04, 2007	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 16, 1428

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MIRPURKHAS, May 3: People across Sindh are facing enormous problems for the last couple of days as local and intercity transport has disappeared from the roads.

Why have the buses and vans disappeared is not a mystery as these have been seized by police for transporting people and security forces to Naukot in Tharparkar district where President Musharaf would address a public gathering on May 5.

People in Mipurkhas are facing acute shortage of transportation and are compelled to pay additional charges to reach from one place to another following impounding of vehicles including buses, coaches, trucks and pickups.

About 300 seized vehicles are parked in the Police Ground where their drivers and cleaners are also made to stay. But they complain that they were not being provided even drinking water.

Public transport is missing from different routes in Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Umerkot and Sanghar districts and on Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas route. As a result, drivers of private cars used as public transportation have doubled the fare.

Our Badin correspondent adds: The district administration with the help of police continued impounding buses and vans on Thursday for third consecutive day. For this purpose, police have established pickets at different points of the city.

Nearly 250 wagons, buses and pickups have been impounded during the last three days to carry the people to Naukot for President Pervez Musharraf's public meeting. Commuters including women and children have to face lot of inconvenience in the absence of public transport.

The passengers have to look for other means of transport, tractor trolleys, bullock carts, motorcycles when the traffic police ask them to get down from buses and wagons. As per reports, the impounded wagons and buses are being handed over to the ruling party legislators and nazims of union councils to bring maximum people to Naukot.

Our Khairpur Correspondent adds: Hundreds of people including women, children, government employees and patients are facing hardships as police have impounded wagons, coaches, mini buses in Sukkur and Khairpur districts.

Police impounded wagons and other vehicles from Babarloi-Sukkur bypass and all taluka headquarters in district Khairpur.

A large number of government servants who work in headquarters of seven talukas and other towns faced hardships to reach their offices. Patients too, had to suffer for making to the hospitals.

Our Larkana correspondent adds: Commuters are facing hardship as police have impounded a large number of vehicles on Thursday in Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts.

The local PML (Q) leadership in both districts had been asked by the Sindh government to make sure their participation. The invitation cards from the Tharparkar district government had been dispatched to Larkana, inviting the Nazims of Khushhal Pakistan Panel and leaders of the PML(Q) to attend the meeting.