KARACHI:
The Sindh transport department has once again decided to remove the Qingqi vehicles and six- and nine-seat rickshaws from the main thoroughfares of the city.
This was decided during a meeting held between transport minister Mumtaz Hussain Jakhrani and the public transport vehicles owners' unions on Wednesday. The meeting was convened to discuss the reduction in the transport fares after the decrease in petroleum prices by the Oil and Gas Regularity Authority (Ogra).
During the meeting, the intercity buses unions agreed to slash down their fares by seven per cent. The goods carrier association have already decreased their fares after the decrease in petroleum prices.
The Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI), the union which runs the public transport buses within the city, has also agreed to reduce their fares in accordance with the decline in diesel prices.
During the meeting, the KTI representatives raised objections over the Qingqi vehicles and the new kind of compressed natural gas (CNG) rickshaws which have up to nine seats.
KTI chairperson Irshad Bukhari said that these vehicles are illegal and are adversely affecting the traffic flow. They draw a considerable share of the passengers that used to travel by buses, affecting the business of the buses adversely. After hearing his objections, the minister decided to take action.
"We will write to the traffic police to take action against these rickshaws and to remove them from at least the main thoroughfares," said Jakhrani, while speaking to The Express Tribune. The minister added that these rickshaws are illegal with no documents and permits, thus having no right to operate on roads.
He further said that the KTI has also agreed to decrease their fares and will announce the decrease on Thursday (today). "We are pushing for at least a seven to eight per cent decrease in the public transport buses fares," he said. "We will also write to Ogra for decreasing the CNG prices to benefit the public as most of the public transport vehicles run on CNG now."
In the past, the transport department and the traffic police have launched crackdowns against these rickshaws. However, the bans had to be lifted because of the protests of the rickshaw drivers.
Last year in October, AIG Ghulam Qadir Thebo had announced to ban the movement of these rickshaws on the main roads of Karachi and the police impounded dozens of such rickshaws.
However, protests broke out and the rickshaw drivers closed the Qayyumabad Intersection and Nipa Chowrangi for traffic to stage their protest. Consequently, the administration surrendered and they were back on roads in no time.
The All Karachi Qingqi Rickshaw Welfare Association chairperson Safdar Shah Qadri said that Jakhrani is imposing the ban on their vehicles because he is being blackmailed by the KTI.
"The KTI has made it conditional for the minister to ban the Qingqi if he wants the transporters to decrease the bus fares," he said, adding that he is now acting on their directions.
"The minister has no time to meet us and we have been trying to meet him and discuss our regularisation issue," he added. "We are ready to cooperate with the government because we have to save the livelihood of thousands of people who are directly and indirectly dependent on the Qingqis and the six- and nine-seat rickshaws."
He demanded that the transport minister sit down with them and discuss which 'main thoroughfares' the Qingqi vehicles are not allowed on.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 6th, 2014.
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They draw a considerable share of the passengers that used to travel by buses, affecting the business of the buses adversely. After hearing his objections, the minister decided to take action. It is the commuters who will decide what mode of transport they want to travel. Also they provide employment to thousands of people and these rickshaws earn them their livelihood. First provide good quality buses, Karachi need at least 4000 large buses to have some impact on the pathetic non existent public transport, then them Qinnqi can be restricted fro main roads, as they are ideal for small distances, and taking the commuters to homes and offices. Don't ban them abruptly.