All bus and wagon terminals including railway sta-tion remained jam packed with passengers who were leaving for their native towns to celebrate Eidul Fitr with their families. The passengers were seen running from one bus stand to the other in search of tickets, while powerful transporters taking full advantage of the situation were demanding double fares from them.
Huge rush of passengers could be witnessed at all bus terminals. On the other hand, as per ugly prac-tices long route transporters were openly looting help-less passengers by charging Rs100 to Rs200 extra on a ticket apart from charges of luggage, thanks to the apathy of the government officials who were watching the whole drama with closed eyes.
On the other-hand Lahore Traffic Police have de-clared a crackdown on trans-port company owners who over-charge and overload passengers during the Eid holidays.
According to Lahore’s Chief Traffic Officer (CTO), Muntazir Mehdi, thousands of people depart for their hometowns to celebrate Eid with their loved ones. It’s terrible that dishonest trans-portation owners take advantage of them, he says. Mehdi stated that police had developed a thorough plan to combat exploi-tation this year. He announced the deployment of at least 84 wardens at Lorry Adda, Badami-bagh, Babu Sabu, Niazi Chowk, Thokar Niaz Beg, Shahdara Chowk, Begum Kot Chowk, Gajjumatta, and other key bus stations.
The traffic police have also issued orders to trans-portation companies to display fare information prominently on their vehicles.
Those who charge high rates to commuters deserve no concessions, according to the CTO, who directed all circle officers to speak with transporter owners in their respective zones. He announced the impoundment of vehicles found overcharging or overloading.
