Fifteen air-conditioned buses were added to the city’s public transport fleet on Saturday when Senator Pervaiz Rashid inaugurated the Rana Travels Bus Service at Thokar Niaz Baig.
The buses will run on route B-56 – the 27 kilometre road between Thokar Niaz Baig and Raiwind. More buses will be added in a phased manner. The stops will include Al-Khan Restaurant, Katchi Kothi, Ali Razaabad, Dubai Town, Sher Shah Colony, Bahbatia Chowk, Lahore Park, Adda Plot, Arayan Pind, ICON valley, Tibba, Pajian, Muhammad Ali Chowk, Rai Wind Phattak, Rai Wind Railway Station, Mandi Stop and Bhatti Chowk.
Speaking on the occasion, Rashid said that on the directives of the chief minister the fare for the route has been kept lower than that notified by the government earlier. Rs15 instead of Rs18 and Rs20 instead of Rs24 will be charged, he said.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senator praised his party’s leadership. The Khadim-i-Punjab, he said, had spent billions of rupees on the welfare and development of the people in the last four and a half years. “[In contrast], he did not purchase even usual things for government offices, let alone costly vehicles,” Rashid said in his address. The Punjab government had reduced the ministers’ emoluments and had used the money to complete development projects.
He praised the Sharif brothers’ ‘vision and services’ for the country. The PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had provided quality travelling facilities to all citizens by constructing the motorway and Shahbaz Sharif had ensured that Lahoris have access to “pollution-free, air-conditioned and comfortable buses”. Later, talking to reporters, he denied that the party had “opened a new front” against Imran Khan. There is no difference between what Imran Khan and Rehman Malik say about us, he said, “it seems that they have been handed the same script, written at the presidency. Asked what the Punjab government was doing to ease the loadshedding, Rashid said the responsibility lay with the federal government. We will do something about it when the people give us the mandate to govern the country.
Minister for Planning and Development Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, MNA Afzal Khokhar, MPAs Rana Muhammad Arshad and Mehr Ishtiaq and the Lahore Transport Company Chief Executive Khwaja Haider Latif were among those present on the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 5th, 2012.
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