HYDERABAD, Nov 7: Around 482 coaches have been booked by traffic police for violation of high court directive in Latifabad taluka over the last three months. The drivers of the coaches were using two separate bus stands in Latifabad unit No-7 for picking up passengers for Karachi.

One of the transport service, Geo Pakistan, had already moved the High Court of Sindh against a ban imposed by the civil administration on setting up bus-stands in Latifabad.

Police did not allow bus drivers to stop at the stands. The civil administration wanted the bus owners and stand operators to use only Baldia and General bus- stands as the only points for picking-up and dropping the passengers in the city on the ground that stands had been causing traffic hazards in the city.

Secondly, armed confrontation had also taken place at the same stands. The bus operators on the ground had been objecting to the bus terminal set-up by Cantonment Board Hyderabad (CBH) as one more bus terminus in the city.

They claimed this terminus should also be closed down and buses should only ply from the Baldia bus stand.

However, the CBH has auctioned the bus terminus for Rs25.5 million to a contractor for 2005-06.

During Eid holidays all the three bus stands of Latifabad were operated by the transporters without any check by police and they even fleeced the passengers by charging Rs150 for travelling up to Karachi. Neither police checked the transporters nor the civil administration officials. The stands operated until Sunday night. However, on Monday traffic police started to issue challans to the bus owners.

According to section officer (SO) traffic Latifabad sector, Muzaffar Beg, around 482 buses had been challaned for various reasons including ban on bus stand in his jurisdiction.

He claimed that around Rs125,000 had been imposed as fine over the buses for parking the buses at the bus stands, using pressure horns and driving buses without documents.

DSP Traffic Syed Amir Abbas Shah told this correspondent that no bus stand had operated during ban period and traffic police continued to challan them.

He said that no such stand existed in Latifabad area and added that the bus drivers might have made brief stopovers on those points to pick and drop passengers for which their buses had been challaned.

The DPO Hyderabad, Ali Ahmed Junejo, on Monday directed traffic police not to challan all those buses which were being stopped at the illegal bus stands in Latifabad and city Latifabad.

According to traffic section office city, only six buses were challenged for making stops in the area.