Public transport to be operational after Eid Holidays in Sindh

The Sindh government has permitted to operate public transport all across the province after Eid Holidays.

Its been two months that the government imposed ban on public transport to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

Sindh Transport Minister Syed Awais Shah also announced a relief package for transporters. He said the transporters had suffered huge losses financially yet still cooperated with the government due to lockdown.

The relief package included exemption of several taxes and duties on transport services and companies.

“We plan to allow public transport after three days of Eid holidays,” the minister said in a statement.

“However, this relaxation would be allowed only under the defined standard operating procedures (SOPs), which have to be followed both by transporters and passengers for safety and health of everyone.”

Earlier, The Sindh government had imposed a ban on all kind of public transport services in the third week of March before the lockdown was formally imposed. The operations of ride-sharing services like Uber and Careem were also suspended leaving people dependent on private vehicles.

The provincial government also banned the intercity bus service to stop movement of people from one city to other.

The Pakistan Railways on March 24 suspended the operation of all its trails throughout the country following the surge in Coronavirus cases and death toll.

Yesterday, Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed has appealed Prime Minister Imran Khan to allow resuming train operations from Monday.

Addressing a press conference at Railways Headquarters in Lahore today, he said that railways system is restored in all over world.

He warned that after Monday, Railway authorities will not be able to control the rush at railways stations across the country because of Eid, adding that people have already booked tickets worth of 240 million rupees.

“We have already made bookings of more than Rs2.4 billion and people have been constantly asking us when the service will resume,” Rasheed said.