September 17, 2007	Monday	Ramazan 04, 1428

MUZAFFARGARH, Sept 16: The perilous act of overloading by public transport has become the order of the day in Muzaffargarh as the traffic officials turn a blind eye to the negligence.

Ghulam Abbas daily travels from Mahmoodkot to Muzaffargarh by wagon to attend his office at district courts. He told Dawn that everyday he had to sit atop the wagon because of packed vehicles. Sometimes, he said, even women had to sit on the top to reach their destinations.

There are 600 wagon and buses plying on roads from Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Rawalpindi, Jhang, Alipur, Kot Addu, Taunsa, Layyah and Jatoi to all over Pakistan.

It is learnt that each wagon and bus gave some monthly amount to the traffic police for allowing overloading.

A wagon driver, requesting anonymity, said each wagon had to pay Rs1,200 a month and bus Rs1,500 to the police to get away with overloading. Other heavy vehicles like truck and trolleys gave even more money to the police.

The police also allegedly demand bribe from those vehicles which did not commit overloading or violate any law.

Bus driver Ghulam Husain said he had to grease the palms of the police without any reason.

Most of the drivers this correspondent talked to said they had to pay an additional Rs200 whenever the police official informed them that a new officer had joined the post.

The traffic police have employed private people who collect monthly amounts from the drivers or vehicle owners. These private people have set up their pickets on roads where they sit for the first five days of every month.

In Muzaffargarh, these private money collectors sit near Tulhery on Multan Road and collect monthly amounts from drivers. After getting the money, they write the number of the wagon or bus in their diary. The number is sent to every sergeant and other traffic officials who do not challan these vehicles.

A driver said the monthly was divided among the traffic police officials.

Regional Transport Secretary Ataul Haq said he had assumed the office a few days ago and found that the route and documentation of 50 per cent of the vehicles were incomplete. He said when he started challans of vehicles, all drivers showed cards of politicians and traffic policemen.

Information gleaned by this correspondent revealed that on Sept 15, when the R&T secretary and his assistant Ms Tehmina were checking route and other documents of wagons and buses, the traffic police officials were worried and they sent messages to the drivers to change their routes.

Justifying demand for money, a traffic police official said: “Our duty is very risky and if we confront transporters the drivers can overrun us”.

He said most of the vehicles had incomplete documents and the transporters got away with penalties by offering hush money to the police.