PESHAWAR, April 20: NWFP Chief Minister, Akram Khan Durrani’s plans to provide basic facilities at bus terminals throughout the province have proved to be an eyewash as bus stands in the Peshawar are in an even worse state.

Mr Durrani had stated the three main priorities of the Muttahida Majlis- i-Amal government during his maiden speech in the provincial assembly, to ban gambling and the sale of liquor, and to provide basic facilities in the province to passengers at bus terminals.

But nothing, so far, has been done. Peshawar’s four major bus stands — the Haji  Camp, Charsadda Road, Kohat Road and Karkhano bus stand — are in a deplorable condition with garbage and filth scattered everywhere.

Despite the government’s tall claims of eradicating criminal elements from the stands, they remain as sanctuaries for drug carriers, smugglers, child abusers and beggars. Noise, waste, puddles of stinking water and ditches are their other  main features. Safe drinking water has still not been provided here.

The defunct Peshawar Municipal Corporation had spent millions on the construction of bus terminals at Haji Camp and Kohat Road   through which pass more than 3,500 heavy and light vehicles daily onto various other parts of the country. They included such facilities as separate waiting rooms, wash-rooms for ladies and gents yet they fell prey to vandalism.

Kohat road’s bus terminal’s double-storied passenger lounge has been encroached upon by the police. The Charsadda bus stand is also in a shambles, the government had only constructed a metal shed there.

Transporters claim that the city district government through the auction of these four bus terminals earns about Rs 60 million every year.

The Karkhano bus stand had been auctioned for Rs 8.6 million for the current year, while the general bus stand on GT Road generates about Rs 31 million every year.

Former president of the Peshawar Transporters Association Haji Noor Mohammad complains that the promises were mere slogans and that even water coolers had not been provided. The City Development Municipal Department  (CDMD) contributed and constructed a bus terminal opposite the General Bus Stand, yet its facilities were not up to mark.

Under the Provincial Motor Vehicle Act 1999, he continued, the government was bound to provide basic facilities at bus terminals, including auto-workshops, he continued, adding that Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan’s government in 1998, had started an anti-encroachment drive at the General Bus Stand and had planned to build a modern bus terminal over a land of 40 kanals, but for unknown reasons the project has been shelved.