SWAT: The people of Mingora here have complained about the high fare charged by local rickshaw drivers and demanded of the relevant authorities to bring it down.

They said that during the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19 in Swat the district administration and RTA under the SOPs for public transport had increased the per passenger fare from Rs10 to Rs20 for autorickshaws running between Mingora and Saidu Sharif.

“Generally, the autorickshaws running on Saidu-Mingora road took five passengers in one trip and the driver would charge Rs10 per passenger, but when the public transport was allowed to operate the passengers per trip were decreased to three to observe social distancing and the fare per passenger was increased to Rs20,” said Zafar Ali, a resident of Saidu Sharif.

People said that Mingora-Saidu Sharif road was the most frequently used route because nearly all public offices, district courts, hospitals, colleges and administration offices were located on the same road.

“I daily go to my office in Saidu Sharif and the only public transport available on the route is autorickshaw. It charged Rs10 before the Covid-19, but with implementation of SOPs the fare was increased to Rs20 and the number of the passengers was decreased. We had been told that the fare would be decreased after everything would be normal,” said Aziz Ahmad, a resident of Bandai who works in a government office in Saidu Sharif.

He said that now when everything became normal the autorickshaw drivers had increased the number of passengers from three to five, but they did not decrease the fare.

The autorickshaws on Mingora-Rahimabad route were also reportedly charging Rs20 instead of Rs10.

The residents have demanded of the district administration and RTA to take action and bring down the fare to Rs10 which was charged before imposition of the lockdown.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2020