Unchecked overloading in buses not only causes inconvenience to passengers, but it is also a major cause of harassment of women in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Twin cities’ traffic police and other departments working to improve the public transport system claimed to have brought several changes in the overall functioning of transport system, but female passengers are still upset on being harassed. “The issue of harassment of females has become cause of anxiety for most of the female passengers. The problem has worsened as most of the time the buses are either overloaded or the operators do not adhere to the reserved seat quota for women in buses,” Bilqees Mukhtar, a daily commuter said. “The unethical treatment is meted out to females, particularly school and college going female passengers, in public transport buses by vulgar youth,” she added.
Muqadsa Ali, an employee, while talking to APP said there should be separate buses for women because separate seats for women in vehicles are always occupied by men and women have to wait for the goodwill of some men who leave the seats for them. Another female commuter who travels to college every day said most of the drivers and bus conductors were taking undue advantage of overloading by harassing females while sitting next to them on front seats. Besides, the commuters said the drivers don’t move an inch till the vehicles are overloaded at the bus stop itself.
Islamabad Traffic Police SSP Moeen Masood, while lamenting on the issue, said that the department had also received such complaints and some strict directions had also been issued to curb the menace. “I know issue of eve-teasing and immoral treatment of women in public transport is increasing day by day. We have taken some steps to curb this menace,” the SSP said. He said that the department had started working to ensure that first two seats in all buses must be reserved for women. “We will seriously try to implement this rule and whosoever tries to flout the rule will be strictly dealt with. We have special traffic checking squads and a team to monitor the smooth flow of traffic in the city. We are trying our best to look into the matter.”
Model Town residents bearing brunt of dilapidated roads: Residents of Model Town, Humak have appealed to Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and Chairman National Highway Authority (NHA) for immediate repair of Swan-Kak bridge area of Kahuta road to end their 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 can lead to fatal accidents. The usual practice of filling the cavities with mud did not work as well; as cracks emerge again within 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 with other parts of the country,” Muhammad Tahir, a resident of the area told APP. Another resident Zaheer Ahmed said, Member National Assembly Dr. Tariq Fazal Chudhary is well aware of the issues but after his election he never paid any attention to this problems. He said time and again the MNA was approached, but he never gave any importance to problems of model town residents. Resultantly, the residents to express their wrath and distress also pasted posters against the MNA.
