PESHAWAR, Jan 30: The NWFP Public Transport Association will observe a wheel-jam strike on Saturday as talks between officials of the Regional Transport Authority and its representatives on the increase in fares remained inconclusive.

A meeting of the officials of the authority and representatives of transporters’  bodies, presided over by District Nazim Mohammad Azam Khan Afridi at the district coordination officer’s office on Thursday, discussed the issue of fares for intra-city routes.

The transporters argued that the increase in fares was inevitable because of the manifold increase in the fuel prices.

They said they had been charging the passengers Rs3 per stop for the last two years, but now the price of diesel had increased from Rs12.90 to Rs21.79 and there was no option left with them but to raise the fare to Rs5 per stop to meet the expenses.

The officials asked the transporters to defer the strike till Feb 8 and hold another meeting on the issue.

The transporters’ representatives rejected the plea and demanded that the fare be raised by Feb 1.

They said the government had allowed the transporters plying vehicles on long routes to change the fares in line with the fluctuation in the  fuel rates but the local transporters were not allowed to do so.

The Muttahida Transport Association, in a meeting at the general bus stand, decided that the there would be no extension in the deadline given for the strike.

It announced that a wheel-jam strike would be observed in the city to press the government for raise in the fares.