PESHAWAR, Jan 31: The transporters are divided over the wheel-jam strike announced for Saturday over the raise in fares for city routes, sources told Dawn on Friday.

“We cannot afford a strike. Some transporters’ leaders have given the call out of their vested interests. We are not a part of it and hundreds of vehicles would be plying on the roads on Saturday,” said a transporter.

According to him, the government had formed a committee, presided over by National Assembly member Sabir Hussain, to look into the matter. The committee had asked the transporters to wait till Feb 8 for a decision about the fares, he said. But some leaders were unwilling to wait for the committee’s report and create problems for the government, said a transporter.

The NWFP Public Transport Association will observe a wheel-jam strike on Saturday as talks between officials and representatives of the transporters remained inconclusive for the second day.

The transporters are demanding a raise in the fares for city routes. They say the government had fixed Rs3 per stop fare two years back but  the prices of fuel had increased by Rs9 per litre. They are demanding that the fare should be increased to Rs5.

District Nazim Mohammad Azam Khan Afridi presided over a meeting of the officials of the Regional Transport Authority and representatives of the transporters’ bodies on Friday.

The transporters argued that they had cooperated with the authorities but the government was not serious in resolution of their problems.

They accused the superintendent of police, traffic, of imposing illegal fines on them.

The transporters have displayed banners and posters, inscribed with slogans in favour of the raise in fares, at bus stands.

 They alleged that intimidating tactics were being used against them.

They asked the transporters to unite and make the strike a success, so that the government could be forced to announce a raise in the fares.