PESHAWAR, July 21: The transporters in NWFP announced another increase of 12 per cent in the transport fares here on Monday.
They staged a protest demonstration and warned if the government did not withdraw the decision of increase in the price of petroleum products they would observe a wheel jam strike on July 24.
Office-bearers of transport associations including Haji Jehangir Afridi, Malik Rab Nawaz, Fayaz Khan, Malik Yasir and Malik Masaud Afridi addressed protest demonstration at Haji Camp General Bus Stand. They expressed grave concern over the increasing prices of petroleum products and termed it a complete failure of the government, saying that rulers had made lives of people miserable.
During the past few months, they said, the new government increased price of per litre diesel by Rs25 and also doubled the taxes. They strongly criticised the provincial government for not revising the fare lists officially and using delaying tactics in this regard. “If the official fare list was not issued the transporters themselves would increase the fare,” they added.
They said the officials of city district government were officially informed about their demands and strike call, but no one had so far responded.
“If the government does not officially increase the fare we will start charging per passenger Rs8 instead of Rs6 per bus stop,” they said.
The transporters, they said, had no other option except to increase fares as they could not afford the new taxes and increasing prices of petroleum products.
Meanwhile, president of legal action committee of Sarhad Public Transport, Haji Ihsanullah, said that following a meeting of the heads of various organisations a 12 per cent increase in the fare of inter-city transport was announced with immediate effect. He said 40 per cent vehicles were already kept off the roads as transports could not afford expenditures.
“Despite our applications the government was not willing to revise the fare list and forced transporters to increase it themselves,” he said and added that instead of quarreling with the passengers the transporters had preferred to keep their vehicles off the roads.
The increase in fare in the previous months, he said, had announced in accordance with a formula, which was devised in a meeting with the officials of Provincial Transport Authority this year on March 18.
According to the formula, he said, the fare used to be increased one paisa for per kilometre and per passenger but this time the formula was not considered as the increase in price of petroleum products was unprecedented.
The decision will be applied on the public transport plying on roads from Peshawar to various districts of the country while the local transport, plying on roads within Peshawar city will not follow it,” he said.
It may be mentioned here that last time the fares were increased on June 30 from 79 paisa to Rs1 for the air conditioned vehicles, while 86 paisa for the non-air conditioned public transport vehicles.
About the increase in the Ada taxes by the city district government, he said it was challenged in the Peshawar High Court and no transporter would pay the additional charges till a verdict of the court.
He said the fare for per passenger from Peshawar to Karachi was increased from Rs900 to Rs1,100, Peshawar to Lahore from Rs450 to Rs500, Peshawar to D.I. Khan from Rs240 to Rs265, Peshawar to Multan from Rs450 to Rs500, Peshawar to Faisalabad from Rs350 to Rs400, Peshawar to Sadiqabad from Rs600 to Rs700, Peshawar to Bannu from Rs180 to Rs200 and Peshawar to Quetta from Rs1,000 to Rs1,200.