Commuters are facing acute shortage of public transport service on Sihala-Raja Bazar route as they have no option to travel other than Suzuki vans.
Thousands of people daily travel on this route which starts from Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi, and culminate at Sihala Bazar—a rural area of the federal capital. People, especially students, government employees and factory workers, are of the view that Suzuki van service was extremely insufficient to cater to the needs of the area. They have demanded of the concerned authorities ply Toyota Hiace van and bus service between Sihala and Raja Bazar route to create an atmosphere of healthy competition among transporters and provide a respectable journey to commuters. “Women are among the worst sufferers as there is no proper seating arrangements for them in Suzuki vans, which has the sitting capacity of 12 people,” said Rehmat Ali, a resident of the area. Another resident, Muhammad Sultan, said earlier Varan bus service was launched on the route, but it was not allowed to operate by the owners of Suzuki vans. “They (owners) have made their monopoly and do not allow any other service to operate on this route,” he added. He recalled that when the bus service was initiated, Suzuki owners blocked the GT Road near Swan Bridge besides damaging three buses of the Varan Company.
Meanwhile, residents of Model Town Humak have appealed to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman for immediate repair of Swan-Kak Bridge area of Kahuta Road to end their three-year ordeal. Most of the vehicles are driven on the road in zigzags to avoid rough patches and commuters fear that the dilapidated condition of the road is a threat, exposing commuters to accidents.
The usual practice of filling the cavities with mud did not work as well because cracks emerge again within a couple of days, making the journey more miserable. “This part of Kahuta Road shares major burden of vehicles as its one end touches the Grand Trunk Road and the other links Islamabad Highway. It also links Azad Kashmir to other parts of the country,” Muhammad Tahir, a resident of the area, said. Another resident, Zaheer Ahmed, said that MNA Dr Tariq Fazal Chudhary was well aware of the issues and was requested to pay attention to this problem. “We will be thankful to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif if he fulfils our demand as people living in the area are facing difficulties due to the road condition,” he said. The road was repaired about 20 years ago and afterwards no attention was paid to it, he said.