Starting today, rickshaws are barred from the Pir Zakori Bridge-Surey Pul stretch of the Grand Trunk Road to alleviate traffic congestion in Peshawar.

Commissioner of Peshawar division, Riaz Khan Mehsud, presided over a meeting where the decision to impose the ban was made. Attendees included Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir, SSP (traffic) Saud Khan, officials from the Regional Transport Authority and Excise Department, and representatives from transporter unions.

The meeting also decided that old buses and wagons operating along the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor would be confiscated and dismantled, with their drivers facing arrest.

Among other decisions made in the meeting include the seizure of rickshaws registered in other districts but operating in Peshawar, sealing rickshaw factories, halting rickshaw supply from Punjab, arresting suppliers, a 20-day crackdown on illegal rickshaws, buses, and wagons starting today, and taking legal action against underage drivers.

Special teams from the pol
ice, district administration, and transport and excise departments were formed for the crackdown, scheduled to continue until May 29.

Peshawar SSP (traffic) Saud Khan told a local media outlet that they registered FIRs against 200 rickshaw drivers and impounded 200 illegal buses and rickshaws last month.

According to an official who spoke to the media outlet on condition of anonymity, the Peshawar BRT project aimed to remove old buses from the roads of the provincial capital. He revealed that as part of the bus project, authorities scrapped approximately 600 old and dilapidated buses, compensating their owners in two phases.

Source: Pro Pakistani