PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rickshaw Owners Association has warned the provincial government against taking any strict action against unregistered rickshaws, saying thousands of drivers will become unemployed.
The warning came after Governor Faisal Karim Kundi chaired a high-level meeting on traffic management in Peshawar, where it was revealed that more than one lakh rickshaws are running in Peshawar, out of which only about 23,000 are registered.
In the meeting, officials briefed that unregistered rickshaws, motorcycles and handcarts are among the major causes of traffic congestion in Peshawar. Governor directed Excise and Transport departments to resolve the registration and route permit issues and hinted at a crackdown on unregistered rickshaws.
Reacting to this, President of KP Rickshaw Owners Association Haji Gulbar Khan said that rickshaw owners are not at fault.
”We have been going to Excise office for the last 8 years. Government itself stopped registration after 2016. We want to get registered, we want to pay taxes, but there is no mechanism,” he said.
He said most rickshaw drivers are poor and daily wagers who feed their families with Rs 1500 to 2000 per day.
”If government impounds our rickshaws, where will we go? Government should first start registration, give us route permits, and then talk about action,” he added.
The Association said Registration of rickshaws has been closed since 2016 and Excise Department says it has no policy, Transport Department asks for registration first while Owners are stuck between two departments. More than 70,000 rickshaws are unregistered due to government failure
The Association demanded that Governor Faisal Karim Kundi shouldImmediately restore rickshaw registration and Create a one-window operation for registration and route permit.
They said Fix a reasonable fee, not heavy fines and Give at least 3 months time to owners to get registered
They warned that if government starts seizing rickshaws without opening registration, they will block University Road, GT Road and stage a sit-in in front of Governor House and Excise Office.
”We are not against traffic improvement. We also want clean and organized traffic. But don’t make poor rickshaw drivers scapegoats for government’s failure,” the association said.
Meanwhile, traffic police officials say unregistered rickshaws create major traffic mess as they have no number plates, no route, and often violate traffic rules.
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