KARACHI, April 5: Resentment prevails among the concerned officials of the City District Government Karachi over the Sindh Transport Department's move to hand over one of the four bus depots in the city to a particular transport company without taking the CDGK into confidence.

Source in the CDGK said on Monday that the depot, located at Dawood Chowrangi, Landhi, had been handed over to a firm operating buses under the Urban Transport Scheme.

"The Sindh Transport Department, through a letter, had asked the bus company to take physical possession of the depot, while the CDGK was not informed of the move," the source added. He referred to a cabinet decision regarding handover of the defunct KTC's depots to CDGK, he regretted that the provincial transport department resorted to taking such a decision arbitrarily and handing over the depot to a bus company.

He pointed out that the UTS bus operators were reluctant to bring more buses on the city's roads due to the Sindh Transport Department's negative attitude towards providing them a proper parking space.

The source cited example of the World-wide Bus Service which was reluctant to operate its buses between Gulshan-i-Hadeed and Tower for the same reason. "A formula was worked out to hand over the Landhi Depot to two different bus operators, but the depot has now been allotted to a single company which has shattered the plan to ensure proper travel facilities to the people of Gulshan-i-Hadeed," he added.

The CDGK does not have any information about the terms and conditions of the agreement on the handing over of this depot, according to the source. He maintained that the information about the move had been passed on to the CDGK head office by the transport department a few days back and only after the depot had been handed over to the bus company. He described the intimation as mere a formality.

He also pointed out that all UTS bus operators were still without a proper terminal facility. Some have been given parking space from CDGK lands while the others park their vehicles on roads.

It may be mentioned here that the issue of the four KTC terminals - Model Depot in Site, Malir Depot at Sharea Faisal, Korangi Depot and Landhi Depot - has been a bone of contention between the Sindh government and CDGK for a long time. The issue has repeatedly been taken up at different levels but no amicable solution could be found as yet. - PPI