SWABI: Public transporters held a demonstration here on Thursday and demanded of the district administration to increase fares for all routes according to the hiked prices of CNG and petroleum products.

The transporters gathered at the General Bus Stand here and staged a protest. They threatened to go on strike if the fares were not increased.

They also stopped taking passengers to Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar and other areas, saying that they could not continue to ply their vehicles because they had been facing losses daily. A large number of commuters gathered at various stops anxiously waited for end of the protest.

The transporters said that the commuters wanted to be shown the new fare list when they demanded increased fares from them.

They said that due to unavailability of fare list the commuters usually clashed with them.

They said that it was not possible for them to run their vehicles by charging fares according to the old rates.

They said that prices of petrol, diesel and CNG had been significantly increased by the government.

“Actually, the administration is authorised to issue the fare list, but it has been delaying it for unknown reasons,” said one of the drivers. The transporters ended their strike when the traffic police officials assured them that the new fare list would be issued soon.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2019