September 05, 2007	Wednesday	Sha'aban 22, 1428

KARACHI, Sept 4: The President’s Rozgar Scheme that completed one year received severe criticism from some of its beneficiaries, who staged a protest against the scheme on Tuesday.

The scheme was launched by President Pervez Musharraf on September 5 last year to create hundreds and thousands of jobs.

Dozens of rickshaw owners with their CNG-fitted 3-wheelers shouted slogans against the scheme at the National Bank of Pakistan, which provided loans for the rickshaws.

The scheme was launched to create 400,000 jobs for people in the age bracket of 18-40 at the cost of Rs12 billion.

“We spent Rs30,000 to buy a CNG-fitted rickshaw, which carried a loan of Rs210,000. The 3-wheelers, however, developed problems within a month,” said Shah Jahan Shaikh, who led the protest rally.

He said rickshaws manufactured by Qinggui were of low quality and developed fault quickly.“The more serious problem is that spares are not available despite the fact that the rickshaws were manufactured in Lahore,” he said.

Another rickshaw driver showed a meter, which went out of order within four days. Others also showed their faulty rent meters not. They said that the speedometers were also jammed while fuel meters also stopped working after running a distance of just 80 km. They said the meters were provided by the showroom owners, who charged Rs4,000 to Rs5,000 per piece.

The protesting drivers said they became sick driving the faulty rickshaws as they emitted more heat than normal rickshaws mainly because a small motorcycle engine of 150cc has been fitted into a body weighing 350 kg.

The small engine resists pulling the heavy body with passengers, especially when it tries to traverse a bridge.

There have been complaints that the processing of applications for loans was painfully slow, but those who availed the opportunity faced other problems.

The scheme was hailed at the time of the launch but substandard quality of machines jeopardized its benefits and forced the ‘lucky few’ to protest.