KARAK: The local people have demanded reduction in public transport fares on intra and inter-district routes after the cut in the oil prices.

The demand was made at a meeting of the elders of Chountra on Monday.

The participants said the district administration was not taking interest in fixing the fares in the wake of reduction in the oil prices. The meeting was informed that transporters were charging Rs200 on the Karak-Peshawar route as against the fixed fare of Rs170, which was already high. They said following the cut in oil prices, the fare should be reduced to give relief to the commuters. They added that fare on Karak-Kohat route was also high.

The elders said the transporters had increased fares by 50 to 70 per cent on local routes on their own sweet will. They said the increase in fares had hit the commuters hard, particularly the labourers, who travelled from their villages to the workplace on a daily basis.

They stressed upon the district administration to call a meeting of the Road Transport Authority without delay and fix the new fares.

OFFICE-BEARERS NAMED: Senior journalist Khalid Khattak was elected president and Riaz Khattak general secretary of the Karak Press Club during the annual election on Monday.

According to a press release, Khalid Khattak secured 27 votes and was elected president while his rival Abid Khattak secured 25 votes.

Raiz Khattak and Shad Nawaz Khattak were elected general secretary and finance secretary, respectively, securing 29 votes each.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2018