LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Transport and Masstransit Bilal Akbar says a fleet of electric buses will begin plying the provincial capital’s roads by year end.

“At least 27 electric buses will begin running on the Lahore roads by the months of November or December this year as a part of efforts to reduce carbon footprint in the city,” he told the Punjab Assembly session on Thursday.

The minister said hybrid buses would be introduced in other districts too for the benefit of local commuters.

Responding to a query by an MPA, Mr Akbar said that over 200 feeder service buses in the provincial capital were being offered subsidy and around one million commuters were benefiting from the mass transit service on a daily basis. He added that the PML-N had provided public transport systems in Lahore and other major towns of the province during its previous stints in power.

Criticising PTI’s term in government, Mr Akbar said the party attempted to make the mass transit system a failure.

Opposition MPA Mushtaq Ahmed chided the government for focusing on Lahore in the provision of public transport at the cost of other towns. He claimed that the whole amount of the Provincial Finance Award was also being spent on Lahore, causing a sense of deprivation among the residents of smaller towns.

Rana Aftab, another opposition MPA, pointed out that traffic jams had become a routine despite plying of buses in the provincial capital.

Irked by the minister’s criticism of the PTI tenure, Ijaz Shafi asked why a party which ruled the province for three years was being targeted, while they (PML-N) itself remained in power for four decades.

Because the system working for the last 40 years was badly damaged during the three years, responded Mr Akbar.

Meanwhile, Rana Aftab told the house through a call attention notice that the SHO of Thikriwala Police Station in Faisalabad was threatening him with dire consequences and targeting his supporters. He said that law and order could not improve in the area if the SHO continued to serve there.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2024