HYDERABAD, May 30: The Cantonment Board will not extend or renew the contract of Pathan Colony bus terminus with the private contractor.

This was said by station commander Brig Saleem Murad Agha at a meeting held here at the Shahbaz Hall on Wednesday.

The meeting, which was held to discuss traffic management problems, was attended by Lt: Colonel Mohammad Akmal Badar, District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, Hyderabad DCO Mir Hussain Ali, the chief executive officer of the Cantonment Board, Raja Fakirullah and other officials concerned.

Speaking at the meeting, the station commander said that cantonment and city were interlinked and the problems of city traffic management could be resolved by making joint efforts.

He said that before shifting any bus stand suitable alternate arrangements must be made so that commuters did not have to suffer.

He asked the DCO to forward a proposal to the authority concerned for the inclusion of Cantonment Board’s representative in the newly constituted District Regional Transport Authority by Sindh Government.

On the proposal of Zila Nazim, Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, a 4-member committee was constituted. The committee, which comprises DPO, a representative of Cantonment Board and in charge Traffic Engineering Cell, will be headed by DCO and will meet at the earliest and decide about alternate arrangements of shifting of Pathan Colony bus stop.

The committee members were asked to give their report by the first week of next month.

The committee members will also discuss city traffic congestion problems and suggest measures to over come them.

The DPO (SSP) Hyderabad, Moazzam Jah Ansari, and Cantonment ASP Gohar Nafees in their presentation stated that due to various factors it was essential that Pathan Colony bus stand be shifted and traffic be regulated by having more traffic signals and transporters should observe code of conduct.

The DPO also took serious notice of the fact that provincial Transport Authority management issued permits of city limits to transporters without the knowledge of city police which resulted in traffic congestion.

He proposed that NOCs be obtained from the city police chief before issuing route permits for plying public conveyance.

The Hyderabad city Nazim, Moinuddin Shaikh, was of the view that traffic police needed to be made more effective. He suggested that Pathan Colony bus stand be shifted on the plot near Baldia police station from where Karachi-Hyderabad route buses were plying.