PESHAWAR, Dec 16: The provincial government has called a meeting to devise a strategy to convert about 30,000 two-stroke rickshaws into four-stroke.

NWFP director transport Sajid Khan Jadoon told Dawn that the government had offered a subsidy for purchase of the four-stroke rickshaws.

He said that provincial minister for transport Ejaz Durrani and representatives of the rickshaw drivers’ union would participate in a meeting to be held in this connection on Dec 18.

He said that purchasers would have to pay Rs30,000 as down payment while the rest of amount would be provided by banks.

He said the total mark-up to be paid by the purchasers would be up to six or seven per cent.

About the exact number of existing CNG rickshaws (four-stroke) in the city, Mr Jadoon said only 61 permits had so far been issued to owners of four-stroke rickshaws in the provincial capital and the rest of rickshaws were plying illegally.

He said that various banks were providing loans for the purpose and if there were complaints of delay it was because the bank staff asked the owners to first obtain a permit from the transport authority. “The previous meeting on the issue was presided over by environment secretary Shah Wali Khan which was also attended by city nazim Haji Ghulam Ali, but it could not finalise the policy,” said an official of the transport authority.

The district transport authority has so far issued 8,243 permits for two-stroke rickshaws, but the actual number is much high.

According to a bank official, the actual number of the two-stroke rickshaws in the city will be more than 30,000 which are running illegally.