VIPs needed: Who will flag-off new buses?

Officials say PM is expected to cut ribbon this week

ISLAMABAD: It seems that in Pakistan, the availability of eminent dignitaries to cut the ceremonial ribbon in front of an official photographer is far more important than having the keys.

Around 30 new buses – purchased under the Prime Minister’s education reforms programme for schools and colleges in the capital – have been collecting dust for the past two months because no dignitary could spare a few minutes to formally hand them over.

Transportation has been a major complaint for students in the capital, where only 100 buses serve students at around 422 educational institutions.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had announced 200 new buses for schools and colleges in Islamabad Capital Territory.

The first tranche of 30 buses arrived on October 19, and 70 more are expected to arrive by the end of January. Each bus seats 63 people and is equipped with a small refrigerator.

One irked college official, who did not wish to be named for fear of losing his job, said that the new buses were better than the ones currently in service, especially in terms of capacity and comfort, but they have been lying idle for the past three weeks.

“The buses should have been handed over as soon they had arrived since schools direly need them,” he said.

At the start of the academic year, every college had submitted over 300 applications from students requesting transport.

“Parents in some institutions had complained that their children had been ignored for transportation facility and only few select students had been accommodated on existing buses,” said an education department official who did not wish to be named.

Meanwhile, colleges have had to bear extra burden as they had to hire private security to guard the idle buses.

According to officials associated with the programme, they had been hoping that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would inaugurate the buses. They have had to reschedule the event several times over the past three weeks.

Explaining the delays in inaugurating the buses, Advisor to Prime Minister on Education Reform Programme Ali Raza said that the buses had been coming in batches of five and that they were waiting for a consignment to be completely delivered before inaugurating it.

He added that they were expecting the premier to inaugurate the project on Friday after returning from a foreign trip. But that may still not help the buses get out onto the streets.

“Even if the inauguration is performed, we need drivers to run the buses…the inductions are under way,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2016.