Transporters in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have are enjoying a field day as the commuters start travelling to their home town in large numbers to celebrate the annual festivity of Eidul Azha, Pakistan Today has observed.
Islamabad city administration and Rawalpindi transport authorities have turned a blind eye towards the woes of the commuters who are desperate to reach their home towns for Eid.
Commuters have thronged bus stands in the twin cities but there are not enough busses to accommodate them.
Due to the scarcity of buses, the transporters have raised bus fares, fleecing the commuters.
On Niazi Bus Stand in G-9 Islamabad, the transporters were found charging 50 percent higher fare than the fixed fare, from the passengers travelling to Peshawar, Bannu, Mansehra and Attock.
The transporters are charging Rs 1,000 instead of the scheduled fare of Rs 750 for travelers to Faisalabad and Rs1,200 instead of Rs950 from passengers to Lahore.
When asked to explain the unjustified hike in fares, Niazi Bus Stand Manager Azizullah said, “It is the right of the transporters to charge higher fare on Eid as Eid only comes twice a year.”
A passenger, Rashid Ali, who wanted to travel to Faisalabad from Niazi Bus Stand told Pakistan Today that the transport staff misbehaved with him and used foul language when he talked to them about the “unjustified” rise in fare.
“Now I am going to Pir Wadhai Bus Stand and will travel to Faisalabad on a non-air conditioned bus, hoping that they will not charge higher than the normal fare,” said Rashid. Meanwhile, the situation at Pir Wadhai General Bus Stand in Rawalpindi was even worse as the passengers were made to travel on the roofs of buses due to the shortage of buses due to the rise in the number of travelers ahead of Eid.
Rawaplindi Traffic Police (RTP) Inspector Khalid Mehmood, when asked to look in to the matter, expressed his inability to rectify the situation.
“I am only responsible for smooth running of traffic on the roads and regulation or monitoring of bus fares is not within the ambit of my duties,” he said.
In Faizabad, the situation was not found to be any different than other bus stands of the twin cities as there are around 12 main bus stands for intercity transport in Faizabad and a large number of passengers were found there securing their seats to travel to their home town s in Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab.
Muhammad Jamil, a passenger who was traveling to Rawalakot (AJK) told this scribe that he is not shocked by the situation as he knew that fares would rise ahead of Eid.
Meanwhile, many people also complained that a private bus service had stopped their advance booking to its passengers for Eid days.
“The passengers are being asked to visit the bus stand twice, first to purchase their tickets in advance and then once again for actually travelling to their destinations,” complained a traveller.
