DADU: Public transport owners observed a strike on Monday and stopped plying vehicles within and without the city in protest against Motorway police’s action against passenger vans and buses fitted with CNG cylinders.

As the passenger vehicles of inter-city routes to Hyderabad, Larkana, Nawabshah, Karachi, Jamshoro and other towns remained parked throughout the day, an enraged group of transporters pelted vehicles with stones and smashed their glass windscreens and windowpanes.

They told journalists that they would not remove cylinders from their vehicles as they had spent heavy amount on their installation. The government and Motorway police should not disturb transporters, they argued.

Meanwhile, Motorway police removed gas cylinders from vehicles in Dadu, Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Sehwan and Jamshoro.

Dadu SSP Dr Farrukh Raza Malik said that police had started patrolling on roads and asked local transporters to carry passengers under police protection. Police had been given clear orders to take action against anyone who created problem for passengers or disrupted law and order, he said.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2019