PESHAWAR, Sept 6: The coaches plying on long routes between the NWFP and cities of Punjab have been causing hardships to the travellers owing to the accommodation of more passengers in the vehicles than the seating capacity.

“The coaches plying from Peshawar to Rawalpindi accommodate 18 persons against the sanctioned seating capacity of 13 people which haunts all the passengers during three hours of long journey,” said a passenger, Mushtaq Khan.

According to him, he travelled to Rawalpindi along with his son and faced big problem because the Hiace cleaner had also accommodated passengers in aisle which caused difficulty in getting down the passengers at various destinations.

The situation in Hiace travelling to other parts of the province is no good. The situation becomes even worse in the presence of children, women and aged people. For instance, travelling by Hiace to distant areas like Mingora, Dir, Pir Baba, Miran Shah and Para Chinar etc, causes more hardships to the passengers where they cannot even stretch their legs to get relaxed.

“Several times, I complained to the traffic sergeants about this problem but no positive result took place because the traffic people take bribes and allow them to fleece and trouble the passengers,” said Mohammad Zahid.