BAHAWALPUR: To bring the public transport vehicles back on the roads and save people from inter-city travel-related inconvenience, the district administration has made a commitment with local transport owners to pay them half of the amounts for hiring their vehicles for transportation of election staff in advance.

Apprehending seizure by the police on the orders of the district administration, most of the transport owners had pulled off their vehicles from local bus and van stands, causing a great inconvenience to those intending to travel to different places from Bahawalpur.

Official sources say that under a ‘deal’ with the transport owners, the administration led by Deputy Commissioner/ District Returning Officer (DRO) Zaheer Anwar Jappa, has assured them that instead to impounding the private transport, this time, the fare of each of the vehicle would be paid in accordance with the distances to be covered and half of the payment would be made in advance.

The remaining amount would be paid to them after the completion of the poll-related duties on Feb 8, they say.

They say that under the agreement, the administration has arranged around 1,000 private vehicles for transportation of the polling staff to different polling stations on the evening of Feb 7, and then dropping them back to their respective destinations on Feb 8.

The officials claim that after the agreement, the private transport owners are satisfied andhave pledged to make their vehicles available for poll duty on Feb 7 morning.

Following the agreement, the transport owners have also agreed to bring their vehicles back on the roads, from where they had been withdraw for the last many days due to the fear of impounding by the traffic and district police, leaving the local bus and van stands empty.

PMA WARNING: The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) Multan Chapter has threatened to stage a sit-in in front of the office of Nishtar Hospital, Multan, medical superintendent on Feb 6 (tomorrow) if the salaries of doctors for the month of January were not paid by Monday (today).

The PMA issued the warning after delay in payment of January salaries to the hospital’s doctors, including house officers.

The association also condemned the alleged mismanagement of the budget by the Nishtar Hospital’s administration and urged it to ensure timely payment of the doctors’ salaries for smooth functioning of the facility.

EXHIBITION: The Bahawalpur Arts Council (BAC) on Sunday launched a three-day pictorial exhibition here in connection with the Kashmir Solidarity Day (Feb 5).

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024