GUJRANWALA, April 29: Commuters suffered for the third day on Monday because impounding of public transport vehicles continued throughout the province for referendum duty.
A large number of people, specially women, children and elderly, were seen waiting for the transport at bus and wagon stands.
The Gujranwala district administration and police impounded more public transport vehicles on Monday from all inter-city intersections and on the GT Road.
The police who started capturing buses and wagons from Friday night have so far impounded 300 vehicles. These vehicles have been parked at warehouses, police stations and premises of other government offices.
Police squads intercepted public transport on various routes and disembarked passengers forcibly. The policemen also thrashed some vehicle crews when they refused to provide their vehicles for referendum purpose.
Commuters, particularly women and children, were the worst-sufferers in the absence of the public transport as motorcycle-rickshaws and tractor-trollies charged heavily from them.
It is learnt that police will continue impounding public transport vehicles on Tuesday (today) as the target has not been achieved.
Meanwhile, the attendance in government, semi-government offices, schools and factories remained thin due to the non-availability of the public transport.
SARGODHA: Commuters continued to suffer throughout Sargodha district for the third day on Monday because of the impounding of transport vehicles for referendum.
The bus and wagon stands presented a deserted look. At places, commuters hired trucks to reach their destinations. Motorcycle rickshaws charged exorbitant fare from the commuters.
Meanwhile, the District council in its emergent meeting unanimously decided to favour Gen Musharraf in the referendum.
It was reliably learnt that District Nazim announced incentives for the Nazimeen of union councils who would bring maximum number of voters to the polling stations. He said that five union councils would be selected from all over the district on the basis of turn out and would be given special funds for development.