PESHAWAR, Feb 3: The transporters on Monday announced that they were ending their strike on the third day, amid reports that difference have emerged among them.
The strike began on Feb 1 as the transporters wanted a raise in fare.
On Monday at 2pm, the mini-buses began their operation on the city roads, as the government, especially the District Nazim, Azam Afridi had flatly refused to increase the fares.
A traffic official said after the refusal to raise fares, the transporters ended the strike. According to him, most of the transport leaders plied their vehicles during the strike, which created an embarrassing situation for the strikers and therefore ended the strike.
Announcing the end of the strike at a gathering of transporters at the general bus stand, the Muttahida Transport Workers Confederation leaders Noor Mohammad Khan, Jehangir Khan Afridi, Zahir Shah, Fayyaz Khan and others criticized the City Nazim for his ‘anti- workers policies’. They said they would hold a meeting with him after 15 days where they would again take up the issue.
They also blamed the MMA government for paying no heed to their problems and asked them to solve their issues at the earliest.
Some of the transport workers also criticized their leaders for their failure to continue the strike and demanded of them to pressure the government on the issue. They said they had incurred loss due to the strike.
A large number of police was present on the occasion.
The transport association has been demanding a rise in the fare from Rs three to five.
The transporters argue that they had been charging Rs three for the last two years. Since then the prices of diesel had gone up from Rs 12.90 to Rs 21.79 and it was not possible to run the transport on the old fares.
The District Nazim, Azam Afridi visited different bus stands to review the situation. He thanked the transporters who did not take part in the strike.
He said the government was considering to launch a city bus service on the pattern of Karachi and Lahore.
According to him, most of the vehicles in the city were unfit to be run on the roads.