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Sindh Senior Minister for Information and Transport Sharjeel Inam Memon has said that several steps have been taken to significantly improve the transport sector during the last two to three years, aimed at providing safe, better and modern travel facilities to citizens in the province.
Speaking in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday, he said the Sindh government had taken important steps regarding wagons and vans, the first of which was a ban on the use of CNG and LPG kits in these vehicles to prevent possible accidents. He said these vehicles were used not only for inter-district and intra-city travel but also for transporting schoolchildren.
Memon said the Sindh government had made fitness certificates mandatory for all relevant vehicles, and digitalised fitness certificates and route permit systems had also been introduced. He added that in the past, vehicle records were maintained manually and there was no complete record of the documents, including route permits.
He said Sindh was the first province in Pakistan where the process of digitalising the transport fitness and route permit system had been initiated. He called it a revolutionary step. The transport minister said the government had taken strict measures to implement transport laws, and action was taken against vehicles whose documents were incomplete or whose drivers did not have valid licenses. The vehicles that did not meet fitness standards were taken into custody, he maintained.
He said the Sindh government had also introduced a third-party liability insurance system so that timely compensation could be provided to the victims in the event of an unfortunate accident.
Steps had also been taken regarding fire safety, and safety arrangements had been made mandatory for the relevant vehicles, Memon said. Referring to the traffic problems in Karachi, he said that in order to reduce traffic pressure in the city, the routes of buses coming from the inner city and going towards Taj Complex, Saddar and Karachi Cantonment areas had been changed. For the convenience of passengers, a free shuttle service had been started, he added.
The transport minister said the free shuttle service was an expensive arrangement, and the citizens of Karachi and people across Pakistan should appreciate these steps taken by the Sindh government to provide convenience to the people.
He urged the citizens to also play their role in further improving the traffic system. The passengers should demonstrate discipline, travel responsibly and obey traffic rules so that the situation on the roads could further improve, he said.
