PESHAWAR, June13: The provincial government on Wednesday decided to ban movement of two-stroke rickshaws on the capital roads and directed their owners to convert tri-wheelers to environment friendly four-stroke ones within a week to avoid crackdown.

The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by transport minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain at the Commissioner’s House here.

However, the Rickshaw Driver Union rejected the decision and sought time for consultation with their employers.

“We attended the meeting and gave our suggestions only about disposal of 1985 model rickshaws but no decision about future of the two-stroke rickshaws was made,” union president Baz Mohammad told Dawn.

He said rickshaw owners were ready to obey the Supreme Court’s decision about disposal of the 1985 model rickshaws but none of them was ready to scrap the new models of two-stroke tri-wheelers without compensation by the government.

According to him, around 3,500 rickshaws of 1985 model are currently on the city roads.

Earlier during the meeting, where officials of the transport authorities and traffic police were also in attendance, the minister asked rickshaw owners to convert their two-stroke rickshaws to four-stroke ones without delay and said rickshaws without registration of Peshawar would be sent to their respective districts.

He said the government had agreed in principle to provide route permits to all registered rickshaws plying across Peshawar.

Participants also reviewed matters related to buses, minibuses, vans and rickshaws and decided that representatives of all transport unions would be called for discussion on them.

The minister told representatives of rickshaws union that in keeping with the Supreme Court orders, no rickshaw having two-stroke engine would be allowed to be on the city roads.

He said a crackdown would soon be begun on all illegal rickshaws and other public transport vehicles. He said the government would resolve the growing traffic problem in the provincial capital by all means without giving in to any pressure.

Mr Iftikhar told rickshaw union representatives that the crackdown deadline wouldn’t be extended and the relevant authorities would spring into action thereafter.

Rickshaw Drivers’ Union president Baz Mohammad appreciated the government for its decision to issue permits to the new four-stroke rickshaws. He said around 7,500 rickshaws were plying the city roads without route permit.

He supported the government’s decision to drive illegal rickshaws and taxis out of Peshawar and said it was a reasonable step for ending traffic mess.

An official of the transport department said the government had set a week deadline for rickshaw unions but the time was too short and therefore, there was a likelihood that it would extended.

“It is a matter of the livelihood of thousands of people attached to rickshaw driving. The government has no plan to provide financial support to them for change of the CNG kit. It will have to resolve the issue slowly otherwise rival political parties will exploit the situation to their benefit,” he said.