October 21, 2008	Tuesday	Shawwal 21, 1429

PESHAWAR, Oct 20: Sarhad Transport Owners Association (STOA), Peshawar chapter on Monday announced to observe wheeljam on October 26 against the ‘high-handedness’ of the traffic police in the city.

Talking to this correspondent on telephone, the STOA Peshawar president, Haji Jehangir Afridi, strongly condemned the traffic police for what he said unlawfully penalising the transporters, which had caused the unrest.

The traffic police, he said were getting 15 per cent commission on a single challan, which was now increased up to 25 per cent and that was why traffic police sergeants were continuously imposing huge fines for ‘no fault’.

“We requested concerned high-ranking officials time and again, but no attention was paid to the resolution of the issue and now we have the only option to park all the public transport vehicles outside the provincial assembly building on October 26,” Jehangir Afridi said.

The local police, he said were trying to copy the Motorway Police, but they could not do so as the Motorway Police had maintained its credibility to some extent and was not penalising vehicles to the extent as the local police were doing.

Jehangir Afridi accused the police of getting commissions from the encroachers, who had occupied the service roads in the city mainly from Hashtnagri to the Haji Camp General Bus Stand area, saying that fruit market in Haji Camp was a big hurdle in the smooth flow of traffic on the Grand Trunk Road.

He said it was the duty of the Transport Minister NWFP, Mian Iftikhar, to take notice of the situation and resolve the grievances of the transporters, otherwise about 5,000 vehicles would be parked on Khyber Road and Courts Road as a protest.