QUETTA, Aug 9: Transporters ended the blockade of the National Highway at Lakpass and Kolpur at 4pm on Tuesday after 36 hours when the government agreed to allow Karachi-bound coaches to continue service from existing terminals instead of shifting to the Badani link road.

On Monday the transporters for the second time within six days had blocked the National Highway by parking dozens of coaches on it obstructing normal flow of traffic between Quetta and Karachi and between Quetta and Sibi. They had blocked the highway on the call of the Balochistan Transport Action Committee causing hardships for people travelling on both sections of the highway.

The transporters, particularly Karachi-bound coach owners, succeeded in forcing the government for the second time to reverse the decision to shift the coach terminal. It may be recalled that in 2005 the district nazim had also attempted to shift the terminal from its present location but could not implement it due to strong protest from the transporters.

Director of Quetta Development Authority Ali Baloch told Dawn on Tuesday night that the city government nazim, Mir Maqbool Lehri, has temporarily suspended the shifting of terminals to the Badani Link Road.

He said that the city nazim also allowed the transporters to use the Old Satellite town bus stand till the recommendations of the three-member committee headed by the provincial minister for local government, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed Shurudy, was submitted to the provincial government for a final decision on the issue.

Speaking at a press conference after ending the strike, the chairman of the BTAC, Haji Abdul Qadir Raisani, claimed that the government accepted their demand that till the final decision on the issue Karachi-bound coaches would use the present terminal near the overhead bridge on the Sariab Road.

He said we had blocked the highway in protest as the district nazim allowed one company Sada Bahar to pick up passengers from the city whereas asked all others to shift to the Badani Link Road.

He said that the government had formed a six-member committee comprising of provincial ministers Hafiz Hussain Ahmed Shurudy and Habibur Rehman Muhammadhasni, MNA Sardar Fateh Mohammad Hasni, MPAs Nawab Aslam Raisani, Akhtar Hussain Lango and Shafique Ahmed Khan to look into the issue.

He said we do not oppose the shifting of the bus stand to the Hazarganji site but we want indiscriminate shifting of all terminals, including that of Sada-Bahar, to the new site.