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E-Bus Service Is Coming to Rawalpindi Soon
  Jun 08, 2024     Arifa Hussain  

E-Bus Service Is Coming to Rawalpindi Soon

The goal of Rawalpindi's e-bus service, which will go into operation the following year, is to help residents with their transportation needs. Six routes would be available, one from Daultala with Rawalpindi and another from Taxila, Wah Cantt, IJ Principal Road to Chongi No 26. Provincial Transport Minister Bilal Akbar Khan announced during a news conference on Thursday that maintenance work on Metro Bus rails will take place this year from June to December.

He said that on special orders from Chief Minister Mariyam Nawaz Sharif, he has been visiting Rawalpindi on a regular basis to deal with the city's transportation and traffic management problems. In addition to reviewing recommendations from local MNAs and MPAs for route design, continuous consultations with members of national and provincial assemblies are underway.

The minister said that track repairs for the Metro Bus service, which was launched eight or nine years ago, will start in June and be finished by December, criticizing the previous administration for not making investments in the service. Noting that millions of people presently utilize the service, he underlined how the PML-N has been debunked by the successful Metro Bus service. He said that the state of the roads would have gotten worse without the Metro Bus.

The minister outlined significant efforts carried out by the Punjab government, pointing out that in less than a year, the chief minister opened 32 new field hospitals, offering free medical care to almost 35,000 people every day. Along with the e-bikes initiative, which will give 20,000 students motorbikes in interest-free two-year payments, he also cited steps taken in response to harassment reports. Every one of the 7,500 female candidates will get an e-bike. The Dastak initiative, which charges a price of Rs900, including a Rs100 token fee from the Punjabi government, also emphasized the digitalization of government institutions and the doorstep delivery of vehicle certifications.

Claims of political persecution were denied by the minister, who emphasized that they do not participate in vandalism. He brushed off opposition accusations of election tampering as out of date and blamed the outgoing administration for inflating prices by violating the terms of the IMF deal in 2022. He did, however, reassure that the present administration intends to lower gas and electricity rates after consulting the IMF.

Arifa Hussain