Won’t pay bribe: Motorcycle rickshaw drivers protest ‘excessive’ fines

They say traffic wardens at the Lorry Adda have been harassing them

FAISALABAD: Scores of motorcycle rickshaw drivers parked their three-wheelers at Jamia Chishtia Chowk on Monday and blocked traffic for several hours while they held a protest demonstration against, what they called, atrocities of the traffic police. 

Asif Ali, one of the protesters, said motorcycle rickshaws plied on several routes of the city, all the way up to Lorry Adda. “Traffic wardens at the Lorry Adda, in particular, have been handing out challans like love letters.” The protester said it didn’t matter whether they had violated traffic rules or not because they were sure to get a ticket.



“What the traffic wardens want is bribes…motorcycle rickshaw drivers who pay them off do not get tickets, while those of us who don’t pay bribes get heavy fines.”

Allah Rakha, another protester, said traffic wardens had been issuing excessive challans and victimising motorcycle rickshaw drivers in order to achieve their daily targets. “We are easy targets …we don’t have an association of motorcycle rickshaw drivers and no one, neither the government nor the Police Department, pays heed to our cries.” Sajid Ali, a tearful protester, said an average motorcycle rickshaw driver earned between Rs700 and Rs800 a day. “We cannot afford to pay off wardens or pay the heavy fines imposed on us.”

The drivers shouted slogans against traffic wardens and appealed to the chief minister and the police inspector general to take notice of the ‘high-handedness’ displayed by traffic wardens.

Traffic on the roads leading from Jamia Chishtia Chowk to Sargodha, Chiniot, Pindi Bhattian, Khushab Mianwali, Hafizabad, Sheikhupura, Lahore, Gujranwala and Sialkot was blocked for several hours because of the protest. A lot of commuters complained about the prolonged protest demonstration. However, no one from the local administration, provincial government or the Police Department visited the demonstration.

The protesting motorcycle rickshaw drivers then held a rally up to the Faisalabad Press Club and later staged a sit-in in front of the city district government secretariat where they shouted slogans against the administration and traffic police. Akhtar Ali, on behalf of the city police officer, visited the sit-in and assured the protesters that the police would move their complaint to higher police authorities and address them on priority.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th,  2015.