Stoned bus drivers now have real reason to be paranoid

Drug users to not be allowed to work as drivers or cleaners in public transport in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, says minister.

PESHAWAR: No drug user will be allowed to work as a driver or cleaner in public transport in the province, said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Transport Mian Iftikhar Hussein on Tuesday.

Speaking during question hour in the provincial assembly, the minister directed bus-stand administrators and transporters to not hire drug users as drivers or cleaners for their vehicles.

Speaker Kiramatullah Khan said that no drug user should drive a commuter vehicle. Licenses of drivers and route permits of such vehicles should be cancelled, he said, adding that formal orders should be issued. On overloading in commuters buses, he said it was due to two different reasons, the stubbornness of commuters and the lust for income. He said that though the department has its own procedure, enforcement is the responsibility of the police. He assured that orders would be issued soon.

Mian Iftikhar said the real estate of the department was occupied by local governments, including the bus-stand land belonging to the defunct Government Transport Service. Bus stands earn millions of rupees for the local
government.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2011.