KARACHI: The transporters have refused to cut bus fares by 12 per cent to 20 per cent, demanded by the traders after massive reduction in POL prices.
Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, during a high-level meeting, gave approval to reduction in transport fares in proportion to decrease in the prices of petroleum products.
The Punjab transport secretary told the participants of the meeting that non-AC urban transport fares had been reduced by 5.6 percent and non-AC intercity transport fares by 7.5 percent. Similarly, the fares of goods transport had been decreased by 8 percent. Moreover, a 10 percent decrease had been made in the fares of air-conditioned bus service and 5.6 percent in some other services, he added.
Meanwhile, the Rice Exporters Association Pakistan have also demanded cut in fares of shipping companies.
Talking to Customs Today, Rice Exporters Association Pakistan Chairman Fareeq Salman said goods transporters have reduced five percent fares which is not justified. He demanded 20 percent cut in fares. He urged the government to facilitate rice exporters fares of containers. He appealed to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take notice of the situation and bound transporters to reduce fares by 20 percent.
Karachi Transport Ittehad President Irshad Bukhari argued that since local transporters had already converted their minibuses and coaches from diesel to CNG, the cut in oil prices was meaningless to them and they would therefore not reduce their fares. On the other hand, Karachi Transport Action Committee President Ashraf Banglori said that they were ready to accept any decision made by the Sindh government about cutting public transport fares in the metropolis. Millions of commuters have been facing exploitation at the hands of what they often refer to as the ‘transport mafia’.
In AJK: Markaz-i-Anjuman-e-Tajran Mirpur Secretary General Raja Khalid Mahmood Khan urged the business community to reduce voluntarily the prices of the commodities of daily use as the government decrease oil prices to provide relief to the common people.
The traders’ leader said that it was the urgent need of hour to initiate such healthy steps by the government to get the people rid of the recent inflation, which, he hoped, would reduce to the greater extent.
