At odds: Confusion prevails as govt announces slash

Transport association says the fares will be reduced only for buses running on diesel

KARACHI: The public cannot really be sure if the bus fares have been reduced as the Sindh government and the Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI) could not reach a common ground. While the transport department has announced reduction in fares, the KTI only agrees to slash the fare of buses that run on diesel.

The Sindh transport department announced to slash the transport fares on Thursday. The government had announced a seven per cent cut in the intra-city public transport fares and a 20 per cent cut in the fares of school buses.

However, KTI general secretary Syed Mehmood Afridi had rejected the reduction and said the transport department was supposed to call a meeting with the association on Friday at 3pm.

The meeting

Finally, when the meeting took place, the KTI agreed to slash the fares of the buses running on diesel by one rupee. Moreover, it said the slash was only for buses and not for coaches and minibuses. "Now it will be inscribed on the public buses whether they are running on diesel or compressed natural gas (CNG)," said Afridi. "The reduction is only for the diesel-run buses and not for coaches and minibuses."

However, transport minister Mumtaz Ali Jakhrani remains adamant that the reduction is for all the buses whether they run on CNG or diesel.

The joint director of the Urban Resource Centre, Zahid Farooq, was of the opinion that the slash can never be implemented. "Who will determine if the bus is running on CNG or diesel?"

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2014.