PESHAWAR, Jan 20: The provincial capital has become a hub of illegal public transport vehicles as the traffic police have failed to take an effective action against transport operators who have no documents like licence, registration and route permits.

A source in the traffic police told Dawn that as people were coming from the conflict-hit areas of the Frontier province they were also bringing with them their public transport vehicles without any permission from departments concerned.

He said the traffic police had launched a campaign against illegal auto rickshaws on Jan 15 and impounded over 200 rickshaws as the drivers did not possess licences, route permits and registration documents, but they could not be fined due to various reasons.

Police, he said, could fine such rickshaw drivers Rs5,000, but traffic police officials were avoiding to do so. The drivers, he said, were produced in court and were again allowed on road their assurance that they would get permission or shift back to their home districts.

The source claimed that the government was not serious in taking serious action against such people, otherwise the traffic system could be regulated by taking some important decisions.

He said hardly 15 to 20 per cent drivers possessed driving licence. Most of the illegal vehicles, he said, had been shifted to Peshawar from Kohat, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swat and Mardan districts.—Bureau Report