The sufferings of the employees of Pak Secretariat have come to an end as the local administration has eased restriction on movement of local transport in Red Zone area.
The local administration has extended the private transport vehicles route to the area close to PTV Headquarters.
Previously, the transporters pick from and drop the employees at Marriott Hotel and were not allowed to proceed to the Red Zone area due to security reasons as a result of which the employees had to cover more than one km distance by foot.
“We have extended the route of the public transport vehicle after several meetings with police and departments concerned and transports,” said Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Amer Ali Ahmed.
It seems that the security steps had hit the employees suffered more than any other section of the society particularly after the entry of private transport vehicles in the Red Zone was banned.
As a result of restriction on the entry of wagons and buses, low income employees working in Pak Secretariat were dropped more than one km away from their offices compelling them to cover the remaining distance by foot both ways.
It has been learnt that majority of the employees do not have their own vehicles thus they travel by private transport vans and buses.
The Red Zone in Islamabad, a six-km long rectangle which surrounds Constitution Avenue, Khayaban-i-Suharwardy, Embassy Road and Khayaban-i-Iqbal, was established last year after substantial increase registered in terror attacks in Islamabad and other parts of the country.
Some of the affected employees said if other private vehicles were allowed to enter into the Red Zone after thorough screening, why passengers of transport vehicles could not proceed to that area.
Islamabads Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) (Security) Ahsan Abbas said the entry of private transport vehicles was banned under a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) made for the Red Zone.
The main reason behind the ban was that police could not check each and every passenger on board.
“It is next to impossible for us to screen all passengers on wagons and buses adding that police have issued different categories' cards to car and motor bike owners according to their destinations,” he said.
There was a proposal to start shuttle bus service for not only the employees of Pak-Secretariat but other government departments and buildings located in Constitution Avenue and the Red Zone. But no practical step was taken by the authorities concerned in this regard,” the SSP said.
It has also been observed that people who visit to Diplomatic Enclave in connection of visas also faced problems due to monopoly of only shuttle service being run from 3rd Avenue to the embassies.
The owner of shuttle service has raised fare by 100 per cent that has been challenged in the court.
The visitors have suggested to the local administration to allow other transporters to start their services to the Diplomatic Enclave so that the monopoly of single service could be brought to an end.
The visa seekers have also appealed to the authorities concerned to end the monopoly of single visa processing private firm.
There are complaints that the single shuttle service and visa processing managements misbehave with the passengers and clients.