KARACHI, March 18 Sindh Transport Minister Akhtar Hussain Jadoon stated that until there is a fresh induction of thousands of public transport vehicles on the province's roads and until the powers taken away from his department following devolution and bifurcation are restored, the status quo regarding the state of public transport in the province will remain, as he was bombarded with members' queries during Wednesday's question hour.
Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla also replied to queries regarding the performance of his department.
The question that started off the debate was Arif Mustafa Jatoi's query about the number of route permits currently valid for travel between Karachi and Sukkur. As members raised the issue of overcharging by transporters for inter-city travel in Sindh, Mr Jadoon said that “if buses are overcharging, we will take action. But due to the bifurcation of the department (after devolution), we do not have magisterial powers to impound (violators).”
Asked about the criteria for obtaining a route permit, the minister said the vehicle's registration book and fitness certificate were essential.
When the Pakistan Muslim League-Q's Ram Singh Sodho asked if the fares were displayed in the buses, the transport minister said that while the list of fares had been sent to the districts, the power to book and impound violators lay with the home department.
Asked about the maximum age of vehicles given route permits, Akhtar Jadoon said that though vehicles from as far back as 1982 were given permits, “due to the shortage of vehicles you see certain models dating back to World War II. We are waiting for new vehicles.”
In a supplementary question, Dr Sikander Shoro of the Pakistan People's Party asked the transport minister how many vehicles were plying the roads without a route permit. Mr Jadoon replied that when he took over the ministry, around 80 per cent of vehicles had no route permits. “Today the figure is down to about 50 per cent of vehicles.”
Arif Mustafa Jatoi had asked the transport minister for the number of buses/public transport vehicles operating in Karachi. In the written reply, Akhtar Jadoon gave the figure of 107,762 vehicles, consisting of regular buses (2,598), minibuses (5,935), coaches (3,372), taxis and rickshaws (43,325 two-stroke and 4,736 four-stroke rickshaws). AC buses and those operating under the KPTS and UTS programmes were listed separately.
'10,000 buses needed'
In reply to a supplementary question, the transport minister said that at least 10,000 new buses were needed for the city, adding that 4,000 such vehicles were expected from the federal government. When the PML-F's Syeda Marvi Rashdi asked why the number of 'white cabs' operating in the city was not listed, Mr Jadoon said that the city district government Karachi had “occupied these things”, without further explaining what 'things' he was referring to.
When the PML-F's Nusrat Seher Abbasi asked what the government intended to do about problems women face while using public transport, Akhtar Jadoon said the government planned to introduce 50 women's only buses under the KPTS, in which the conductors would also be female.
The state of cinemas
Arif Jatoi had asked Mukesh Kumar Chawla for the number of cinemas operating in Sindh as on June 30 in the years 2006, 07 and 08. Mr Chawla gave the details for 16 out of Sindh's 23 districts. As many of the districts showed no cinemas, various members questioned the figures, saying that cinemas existed in their districts, to which the excise minister said he would look into the issue.
In reply to Mr Jatoi's supplementary question about the percentage of tax on a cinema ticket, Mr Chawla said it was 30 per cent of the ticket cost.
When a member asked the minister about the existence of illegal mini-cinemas, he replied that “we only collect revenue. We can't know if a cinema is being run in someone's house.”
The PPP's Nadeem Ahmed Bhutto had sent the transport minister a question inquiring whether it was true that 21,000 vehicles were plying in Karachi without third-party insurance. In his written reply Mr Jadoon told the house that this was not true, but in reply to a supplementary question he said that between 30 and 50 “bogus, footpath insurance companies” were in operation.
When the minister said the bogus companies were being investigated, Sindh Assembly Speaker Nisar Khuhro intervened and asked that if it was known the companies were fake, what was the need for investigations. Mr Jadoon replied that conducting enquiries was not the transport department's job, adding that the department merely informed the investigating agencies such as the FIA and anti-corruption department about suspected frauds.
In other questions that could not be taken up on the floor of the house due to the paucity of time, Akhtar Jadoon confirmed in a written reply to Marvi Rashdi's query that permission had been granted to owners of two-stroke rickshaws to convert their vehicles to four-stroke configuration by June 30, 2010.
Number crunching
A rather shocking disclosure came in reply to another of Ms Rashdi's questions. She had asked the excise and taxation minister if the Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation and the Karachi Electric Supply Company owed millions of rupees in property taxes to the Sindh government.
Mr Chawla - in his written reply - gave figures for several districts. For Karachi alone, the figure owed by the PTCL to the provincial government came to Rs201,077,209 (a total of 56 units) while the KESC owed Rs28,115,970 (a total of 65 units).
The minister added that the “process of recovery is under way and notices under the Sindh Land Revenue Act, 1967 stand issue ... in case the arrears are not cleared by the PTCL and KESC, the same will be recovered through coercive measures after expiry of prescribed time.”
The dues owed by the PTCL in districts Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur and Shaheed Benazir Abad came to Rs3,799,956 while Wapda/Kesco owed Rs7,815,485. In Hyderabad district, the PTCL owed Rs3,662,681 while in Mirpurkhas the PTCL owed the government Rs0.827 million, while Hesco owed Rs5.177 million.
The privatised telecom provider also owed a total of Rs2,223,283 to the Sindh government in districts Larkana, Shikarpur and Jacobabad.