RAWALPINDI: With Eidul Fitr just a few days away, people have started leaving for their hometowns in trains and buses.

The government has announced four-day Eid holidays from Tuesday but people mostly started leaving for their hometowns on Friday last.

Mohammad Anwar, who was going to Karachi, said in order to avoid problems he got a ticket of Greenline a month ago.

However, some passengers faced problems in reserving seats and had to wait for hours to get tickets.

Divisional Superintendent Syed Munawar Shah told Dawn that special arrangements were made for passengers but compared to previous years, less rush was seen in trains.

He said due to online ticket reservation system, people mostly got tickets a month ago.

He said one extra coach was attached with Greenline and Rehman Baba Express for Karachi.

Extra coaches have also been attached with five trains to Lahore and one each to Multan and Quetta.

The railway has also made arrangements to bring back passengers after the Eid holidays.

He said rush would be witnessed on trains when people start returning from their hometowns.

At the bus terminals of Pirwadhai, Soan River, Faizabad and Pirwadhai Mor, there was a routine rush of people. However, citizens complained of overcharging.

“We had to pay more fare to Jhang. The transporters say due to the hike in petroleum prices, fares have been increased,” said Naveed Hussain at Pirwadhai.

“There is also shortage of buses and transporters are forcing people to

share seats with other passengers,” Ahmed Khan, a passenger to Faisalabad said.

When contacted, Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Secretary Khalid Yamin Satti told Dawn that there was no rush at the bus terminals.

He said the RTA had deployed special squads at the Pirwadhai, Pirwadhai Mor and Soan bus terminals to check overcharging.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2019