Illegal driving schools loot public

A large number of illegal driving schools in the provincial capital and other small cities are looting the public by charging them a heavy fee and violating their agreements. Neither the Punjab government nor the Traffic Police have any data on these centers, which are operating without a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the concerned district administration. Reportedly, these schools charge Rs20,000 to Rs30,000 for a 10 to 15 day-long training session, while an additional Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 are charged for traffic licenses.

Dr Altaf Ahmad Yar, who recently returned from Saudi Arabia, shared his daughters experience with an illegal driving school located in a posh area of Lahore. "I paid Rs20,000 for my daughter to learn driv-ing on an automatic vehicle within 15 days. First, they sent a male instructor despite my request for a female instructor. Secondly, they brought a manual vehicle even though we had mentioned that an automatic vehicle is needed. When we complained to the center's administration, we were told to settle with whatever was available or go to some other driving school," said Dr Yar, who despite com-plaining to the Traffic Police was neither offered a refund nor driving lessons for his daughter.

Similarly, Nusrat Bibi, a local citizen revealed that she paid Rs15,000 for learning how to drive a manual vehicle. "I was told that I will be given lessons for a duration of 15 days however, the instructor went on a leave for seven days and I only had eight days to learn" riled Nusrat.

Likewise, Rifat Shahid paid Rs20,000 for driving lessons and license registration, but after three days, her lessons were concluded. "When I complained to the Traffic Police, they forwarded my complaint to the district administration. The district administration does not have any record in this regard," she said.

According to Mohammad Altaf Qamar, Former Additional Inspector General of Punjab Police, the Traf-fic Police is now only engaged in issuing challans for violation of lane, helmet, parking and one way. "In the past, we had closed many illegal driving schools operating without the registration of the Traffic Police and district administration, but unfortunately, they have reopened. There is a need to run a campaign against these private driving schools, which must be brought under the law and the system," said Qamar.

Chief Traffic Officer Lahore Amara Athar assured that a check and balance policy will be devised for private driving schools in collaboration with the district administration. "We receive complaints, but the applicant does not show up when we contact them," claimed Athar.

On the other hand, a spokesman for the Traffic Police Punjab revealed that there are about 130 ap-proved driving schools in Punjab where more than 5,000 people get driving training each month.

"So far, more than 100,000 people have been taught driving including 64,000 men, 30,000 women and more than 500 trans gender persons. Traffic licenses have also been issued to 70 per cent of men and women who learn driving from these schools. Ten to fifteen days are given to learn driving. The gov-ernment's driving fee is officially between Rs5,000 and Rs6,000, while there is no fee for trans genders persons. We do not have any data on the number of schools teaching driving privately. A policy is be-ing devised soon in this regard and all private driving schools will be brought under the purview of the law," they said.