LAHORE, April 9: The district government kept the Lahorites without public transport for the second successive day on Tuesday by retaining custody of thousands of vehicles to transport the people to the Minar-i-Pakistan to attend the public meeting to be addressed by President Gen Pervez Musharraf for launching his referendum campaign.

Free transport was available for the people from different parts of the city, factories and all the government offices in the afternoon. Commuters had to experience great difficulty in reaching the places of work, education and business due to the acute shortage of transport.

Most of the people had to rely on private transport or hire taxis, rickshaws and tongas. Those who could not afford to pay exorbitant fares demanded by the drivers had to wait for hours for a limited number of private buses spared by the government. Many government servants, industrial workers and students had to return home after failing to find any transport.

There was no work in the government offices and the employees spent the day discussing various aspects of referendum while waiting for the transport to carry them to the Minar-i-Pakistan.

Traffic on the city roads remained thin throughout the day and driving was very easy due to the absence of hundreds of rashly driven public transport vehicles. There were no traffic jams in any part of the city except the vicinity of the Minar-i-Pakistan till late in the evening when the impounded vehicles were released after the conclusion of President Musharraf’s public meeting.