Green card scheme: Selected students issued cards for subsidised travel

RAWALPINDI:

In another step to cater to the younger lot, Punjab government on Wednesday issued green student cards to 50 college students to enable them to travel on subsidised fare.

The cards were given to them by PML-N MNA Muhammad Hanif Abbasi who was accompanied by Rawalpindi Commissioner Imdadullah Bosal and District Coordination Officer Saqib Zafar at a ceremony held at Rawalpindi Arts Council.

These students will only have to pay Rs10 while travelling by a green bus from Raja Bazaar, Rawalpindi to Gujar Khan.

In the first phase, cards were given to selected students from Gordon College, Government College for Boys, Sarwar Shaheed College, Post Graduate College for Women and Government College for Women Rawalpindi, Hashmat Ali Islamia College and Government College for Women, Gujar Khan. The facility will later be extended to all college students.

While speaking at the ceremony, Gujar Khan MPA Shaukat Aziz Bhatti who had pushed for the CNG buses on the Gujar Khan-Rawalpindi route, said brawls between transporters and student over fares led them to damage the buses. To resolve this issue, the Punjab government has introduced green cards and fixed a fare of Rs10 for college students.

Speaking on the occasion, Abbasi said the education sector in general and students in particular were a priority for the Punjab government, citing programmes such as provision of laptops and scholarships, Danish schools, making up for deficiencies in public sector schools and introduction of IT labs.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9^th, 2012.