Safety first: SHC orders inspection of public transport vehicles

Order comes in petition against exorbitant fares and unfit cylinders

HYDERABAD: The Sindh High Court (SHC) ordered on Thursday the district administrations and police of 15 districts of Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah divisions to inspect public transport vehicles.

SHC’s Hyderabad circuit bench passed this order to the commissioners of three divisions, directing them to deploy taluka-based assistant commissioners and deputy superintendents of police for the purpose. The officials have been instructed to carry out a week-long exercise every month to check the fitness of compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinders and implementation of official fares.

“This campaign shall be launched randomly for a period of one week in a month at least for six months,” read the order issued by the division bench of justices Salahuddin Panhwar and Ghulam Qadir Laghari.

“Improper installation of the CNG cylinders in the past have claimed precious lives [in accidental explosions] and alerted authorities to issue directives for examination of vehicles which seem to have faded by lapse of time,” stated the order.

The commissioners will also have to submit every month a compliance report in the SHC. During the hearing, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) was directed to ensure that all the vehicles displayed route permits as well as the RTA-approved fares for the passengers. The court gave a month to ensure compliance.

The order was given in a petition filed by Abdul Nasir, a resident of Mirpurkhas district, who complained of exorbitant fares and accident-prone unfit cylinders placed under the passengers’ seats in public transport vehicles.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2016.