March 19, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 10, 1429

PESHAWAR, March 18: The provincial government has succumbed to the pressure of transporters and agreed to increase public transport fares, which will be notified soon, it is learnt.

An official in the provincial transport department told Dawn that the government had decided to increase the fare one paisa per kilometer and per passenger both in air conditioned and non-air conditioned vehicles plying between Peshawar and other cities.

He said the government had to take the decision because transporters had threatened to observe a wheel-jam strike if the fares were not revised.

He said transporters had met officials concerned, including provincial secretary Shah Wali Khan, who had asked them not to observe the strike and said the new fares’ list would be notified probably on March 22.

He said the fare rise would cover the increase in prices of petroleum products.

As per the decision, the increase in fares from Peshawar to different cities would be: Lahore Rs46, Karachi Rs160, Dera Ismail Khan Rs33, Bannu Rs19, Multan Rs62, Bahawalpur Rs72, Sialkot Rs37, Narwal Rs42, Sadiqabad Rs80, Faisalabad Rs46, Rawalpindi Rs16 and Islamabad Rs17.

The revised rates will also apply to public transport plying from Peshawar to various cities of the Frontier province.

When contacted, Sarhad Transport Owners Confederation leader Ihsanullah Khan said transporters of the other provinces had contacted them to observe a wheel-jam strike against the increase in fuel prices, but the idea was dropped after the NWFP government accepted their demands.

He said the revised fares would not apply to local transport plying on Peshawar roads and those fares would be decided by the district government.

About local transport, he said, the fares had been increased unofficially, but there was no check on them from the authorities.