Lahore Transport Company Chairman Khwaja Ahmad Hassaan on Tuesday directed the officials concerned to compile the data collected during a recent survey of motorcycle rickshaws in the city and send it to the Excise and Taxation Department for verification.
Hassaan was presiding over a meeting, where he was briefed about the survey in which LTC officials had counted the number of Qing Qi rickshaws in the city that had been enrolled with the LTC. LTC Chief Operating Officer Omer Pirzada gave the briefing. The survey was held in January and February 2014.
The LTC chairman was told that the survey was monitored by eight heads and that details about each rickshaw driver and the vehicle’s chassis number had been recorded to ensure that it was not stolen.
MNA Mehr Ishtiaq, the chairman of the committee on motorcycle rickshaws, also attended the meeting. LTC Chief Executive Officer Khwaja Haider Latif, Chief Traffic Officer Capt (retired) Sohail Chaudhry and MPA Ramazan Bhatti were also present.
Pirzada said that 31,844 motorcycle rickshaws had been listed by the LTC during the 39-day survey. He said the rest of the data, including drivers’ details and vehicle model and verification number, had yet to be compiled.
He said many motorcycle rickshaws had been built using motorcycles with tampered chassis numbers. He said the information would soon be shared with the Excise and Taxation Department. The committee allowed the officials concerned to report the data to the Excise and Taxation Department.
The LTC was also directed to share the data with the National Database and Registration Authority to verify status of each of the driver’s computerised national identity card number.
Talking to The Express Tribune, LTC Operations Manager Faisal Naseer said that the data would be compiled by the end of the week. He said over half of the compilation work had been completed.
He said the LTC would soon call another meeting of the committee to discuss the report and the way forward.
He said certain areas had been identified for motorcycle rickshaws to ply. The suggestions would be presented before the committee, which, he said, would make the final decision.
CTO Sohail Chaudhry said that the traffic police would give owners of the remaining motorcycle rickshaws in the city 10 days to list themselves with the LTC before traffic police started impounding those.
He said many of these rickshaws were not registered with the Excise and Taxation Department. During these 10 days, he said, traffic police would stop rickshaw drivers to remind them to get enrolled.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2014.