PESHAWAR, Jan 18: The East-Cantt police station has started issuing free entry tickets to private vehicles in, what it says, an attempt to halt the car-lifting incidents.

The police were issuing and receiving the entry tickets on all the entry and exit points in Sadar Bazaar, including the residential areas of the market’s surroundings.

Only taxis, rickshaws and Suzuki loaders were exempted from the free tickets as these plied there for business purposes, an on-duty police official told Dawn here on Friday.

The decision was taken by the SP and DSP Cantt Circle after closure of a private car parking, he said.

Despite not charging any amount for the entry, Rs2 is clearly mentioned on every ticket.

The vehicles’ owners say the police are issuing tickets on an experimental basis and, later on, would start charging every vehicles.

A few days back, the cantonment board closed one of the two big car parking lots for reasons best known to the high-ups of the department concerned.

“The cantonment board has closed the private car park-

ing with full legal authority and for sound reasons,” said Engineer Zafar, the planning branch official of cantonment board.

Refusing to provide cogent reasons for the closure of car parking, he said the cantonment board was planning some alternative arrangements for car park around the busy Sadar Bazaar.

He expressed ignorance about the police decision of issuing free entry tickets to vehicles in Sadar Bazaar.