Under district admin’s nose: Illegal bus terminals occupy Kasur exit points

KASUR: Billions of rupees spent by the last Pervaiz Elahi government on establishing a new general bus terminal outside the Kasur city have gone waste as the terminal is almost non-functional these days.

It is only because two illegal bus terminals have been set up on both the entry and exit points of the city. These illegal bus terminals have been working day and night under the district administration’s nose. Thousands of people travel from Kasur to Lahore and from Lahore to Kasur, and from Kasur to other destinations every day. Before the last Pervaiz Elahi government in Punjab, several small and big bus terminals were situated inside the city. It was because of the rush caused by buses, mini-vans and air-conditioned coaches in the city that the vehicular traffic on the congested roads of Kasur remained jammed. Then to save the city from pollution and traffic problems, the Elahi government shifted the general bus terminal outside the city near the shrine of Baba Sadar Diwan and dozens of acres of land was procured for this purpose. A beautiful building and bus and van tracks were constructed at the new bus terminal catering to the needs of thousands of passengers destined for Lahore, Raiwind, Kot Radha Kishan, Pattoki, Deepalpur, Theeng Mor, Sham Kot, Khudian, Hujra Shah Muqeem, Faisalabad, etc.

The new general bus terminal started working quite adequately about 18 years ago and the people of Kasur took a sigh of relief in the unpolluted air. Also there was then no congestion caused by the vehicular traffic and citizens started moving on the city roads smoothly.

It was all right till last month when the New Star company owned by the local transport mafia established an illegal bus terminal outside the DHQ hospital Kasur. Worth-mentioning here is that the DHQ hospital has been constructed beside the main entry/exit point of Kasur. The main gate of the hospital is some 10 meters from the main road. So there is some space which has been illegally occupied by the New Star company which runs its air-conditioned coaches from Kasur to Lahore and vice versa. It is because of the presence of dozens of coaches outside the DHQ hospital that the hospital entrance has been blocked and these is also a little space left for other vehicles to enter the city. So traffic muddles keep taking place at that point all the day. The sufferings of patients moving in and outside the hospital notwithstanding, common people and vehicles moving across this section of road also feel disturbance.

“All this is happening under the district administration’s nose. Why are they not taking any action against the transport mafia? There are traffic jams. There are swathes of pollution. Men, woman, children and the elderly seem to be standing on the congested road to take their coaches, risking their lives. The New Star Adda manager is illegally collecting thousands of rupees from air-conditioned coaches’ owners in the broad daylight every day, but nobody is there to question him. And a big chunk of money is going to district administration officials who have turned a blind eye to the activities of the transport mafia. Whose responsibility is to maintain law and order? Of course, the district administration, but it is sleeping,” said a group of local transporters who still believe in the rule of law and run their coaches from the government-authorised bus terminal.

“We have submitted applications to Kasur DCO Fayyaz Mughal and other district authorities, requesting action against the illegal bus terminals, but to no avail. The transport mafia is minting money with no check around,” Said Munir Ahmed Sheikh, a local transporter who is one of the applicants on a petition sent to the DCO.

There are only two entry and exit points of the Kasur city: one point has been illegally occupied by the so-called News Star company and the second by another illegal transport company called the Zaki Brothers. Before the construction of the new general bus terminal having a proper demarcation for coaches and buses running on all routes, there were almost four small and big bus terminals in Kasur. The Zaki Adda on the Shahbaz Khan Road was one of them.

“It is surprising to note that when there are clear orders by the Punjab government to transfer all passenger vehicles to the new general bus terminal outside the city, why a private company was still running its air-conditioned coaches from the city. Of course, there is something wrong in the bottom,” said a Kasur social worker privy to all developments, requesting not to be named.

When Kasur DCO Fayyaz Mughal’s attention was drawn to the illegal bus terminals, he said: “Sheikh Sb Salam. Your point is well taken. Sure. Needful will be done and outcome will be shared with you next week as well.” Also Kasur DPO was contacted in this regard and he said: “I was on leave and just saw your message. Will be able to respond tomorrow after getting feedback from the DSP Traffic and the secretary RTA.” However, later, there was no reply.