MULTAN, Nov 26: Bandits on Monday looted cash and valuables worth Rs400,000 from passengers of the Awam Express.

The 14-down Awam Express was on its way from Multan to Karachi when at least six bandits boarded the bogie No 9 from a dining car near Sher Shah station, some 15km from here.

They held up the passengers and snatched cash, gold jewellery and other valuables worth Rs400,000 from them. They pulled the emergency chain and escaped with booty just short of Buch Railway station, some 24km from here to the south.

Railway police claimed the bandits looted only nine people, however, the railway authorities revealed the number of looted people was higher.

When contacted, Multan railways SP said police were estimating the loss of passengers.

Police sleuths tried to follow the footprints of the bandits in Buch but without success.

Multan railway police has yet to register the case. SHO told this correspondent that the case was to be registered on the complaint of a passenger Muhammad Afzal of Multan who was making for Rahim Yar Khan.

Meanwhile, the railway SP has ordered to beef up security on all the down trains.

Multan GBS: The Multan tehsil municipal administration and local transporters have reached an agreement over the sale of terminal turning tax (TTT).

This was stated in a press note issued here on Monday by city tehsil council Naib Nazim Dr Muzaffar Ahsan Qureshi. City Nazim Mian Faisel Mukhtar led the official dialogue committee while the transporters’ team was headed by Abdul Ghaffar Dogar.

It was agreed that the general bus stand would remain under the control of the tehsil municipal administration. It was decided that the bus stand would charge Rs15 and Rs10 each from the non-airconditioned buses and wagons and Rs20 each from the airconditioned buses and wagons. The commuter vans of intra-city routes would be charged at the exit points.

The city Nazim vowed to change the state of affairs completely at the bus stand to make it a worth-visiting place for passengers. He assured transporters of resolving their problems amicably, saying that no one would be allowed to carry out unlawful activities at the bus stand, he added.