March 11, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1429

KARACHI, March 10: The Sindh caretaker Minister for Transport, Arif Ali Abbasi, has asked the transporters to justify the rationale behind their demand for an increase in fares or facilitation from banks or the government.

He was of the view that most of the buses and rickshaws plying on different routes in the city did not comply with the demands of a proper public transport system. These vehicles, he added, were neither properly maintained nor did they follow traffic rules and regulations and caused inconvenience to the public.

He made these remarks while speaking to a delegation of transporters associated with the Urban Transport Scheme (UTS) that called on him at his office on Monday.

The transporters asked the minister to help them in the settlement of the issue of a six per cent subsidy. They also sought the minister’s assistance in the provision of bus depots by the city government.

The delegates informed the minister that if the subsidy as promised at the time of finalising an agreement for plying buses under the UTS was not paid, they would not be able to pay back their instalments to the bank, which might result in the confiscation of their buses.

They said that initially over 200 UTS buses had started plying on various routes. Now, the number has been reduced to 100 only as the rest of them have either been impounded due to non-payment of bank instalments or have gone out of commission.

Observers recall that the government gave permission to the UTS to bring a fleet of 500 buses on city roads. The owners had pledged to provide neat, clean and comfortable buses on a par with the international standards. However, the UTS transporters instead of 500 buses only introduced 150 buses on various routes.

Under the agreement, the UTS operators were supposed to maintain their buses, strictly follow the traffic rules and agreed to pick and drop commuters only from designated bus stops. But neither the buses are properly maintained nor traffic rules properly followed by the UTS buses. Similarly, there was also a clause for ensuring the use of a uniform by their conductors and drivers, another condition which remained neglected.

As far as the subsidy issue is concerned, there is a controversy over the formula and its interpretation by the transporters and the city government.

The minister assured the UTS delegation that if they enforce the agreement which they had signed with the city government and meet the conditions as laid down in the agreement, he would certainly help them sort out the issue.