RAWALPINDI: A day before Eidul Fitr, people swarmed bus stands and Rawalpindi Railways Station to depart for their hometowns to celebrate Eidul Fitr with their families.

The twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have hundreds of thousands of people from other parts of the country working here in both public and private sectors, and they go to their hometowns ahead of both Eids and other major events.

Following the government’s announcement of a Eid holiday from March 20 to March 23, most people have already left for their native towns on Thursday.

Bus terminals of Pirwadhai, Soan River, Faizabad and Pirwadhai Mor, saw a a routine Eid rush of people. However, citizens complained of overcharging.

“We had to pay more fare for Jhang. The transporters say due to the hike in petroleum prices, fares have been increased,” said Mehar Hussain at Pirwadhai. “There is also shortage of buses and transporters are forcing people to share seats with other passengers,” Khizar Hayat, a passenger to Faisalabad said.

When contacted, Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Secretary Asad Shirazi told Dawn that the RTA had deployed special squads at the Pirwadhai, Pirwadhai Mor and Soan bus terminals to check overcharging.

A large number of transporters were fined over the last three days, and the RTA also recovered the overcharged amount and returned it to passengers on the spot. He said that on Thursday, a total 97 vehicles checked and 12 were found overcharging. “Their owners were fined Rs24,500 while three vehicles were impounded,” he said. He said that the RTA managed to recover Rs2,350 overcharged fare from bus owners and returned the extra fare back to seven passengers.

On the other hand, rush witnessed on trains departing for Kohat, Multan and Peshawar while less rush witnessed for Lahore and Karachi. Due to increase in the petroleum prices, mostly people preferred trains while going to and from their hometowns because public transporters on the motorway and G.T. Road charged higher fares.

People began turning up at the city’s railway station early in the morning but their number considerably swelled at noon after government and private offices closed. As a measure to cope with the heavy rush and keeping in mind the passengers’ convenience, the railway authorities attached additional coaches to several trains.

The trains to Lahore, Karachi, Kohat and Multan were running with additional coaches.

Pakistan Railways Divisional Superintendent Nooruddin Dawar told Dawn that the railway administration had made special arrangements for Eid. He said that no special train would be operated from Rawalpindi, however, the authorities managed to attach more coaches with trains to Lahore, Kohat and Multan. “As compared to last years, there is less rush on trains. The passengers for Green Line, Lahore bound Railcar were normal but rush was witnessed on Kohat and Multan bound trains,” he said.

He said that as there was less mean of traveling for Kohat and mostly people travel through trains and the Multan bound train also attracted the people.

He said that the railway police in collaboration with the city police had already tightened security at the railway stations in the wake of the situation in the region. He said that only passengers with tickets would be allowed to enter platforms after being thoroughly checked through metal detectors.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2026