KOHAT, May 6: The transport mafia is fleecing the commuters for the last five months by violating the agreement reached with the Kohat Transport Authority which had fixed the fare at the rate of 29 paisa per kilometre on long routes, Dawn survey revealed.

The transporters also force the commuters to share three seats for four in this hot summer in the Hiace vans violating the permit restrictions. The traffic police look the other way as people suffer.

The big hurdle in the way of implementing the decision is that the whole transport business is in the hands of one family. The annual contracts of all the intra-city stops and the bus stand are given to the same family.

Early this year, the Kohat Transport Authority, in an attempt to regulate the fares in view of the complaints from the commuters fixed the rate on the long routes at 29 paisa per kilometre which was mutually agreed to by the transporters plying on the Kohat-Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Hangu, Kurram Agency, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan routes.

The transporters were charging Rs30 for Peshawar against the agreed fare of Rs22, for Bannu Rs50 against Rs30, for Rawalpindi Rs60 against the fixed fare of Rs48, for Hangu Rs20 against Rs15, for Parachinar Rs90 against Rs78 and for Thall Rs60 against Rs55.

The transporters’ union alleged that the authority had not consulted them before the fixation of the fares.

A transporter, Pir Tahir, told Dawn that the Tehsil Municipal Officer and the district Nazim had been repeatedly asked by him to review the fares because the prices of diesel were not stable and the new bus stand was far from the city, where a very few passengers could afford to come.