RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Masstransit Authority (PMTA) will hand over the metro bus depot, located in the vicinity of the JUI-F’s public meeting venue, to Islamabad administration which will seal it with containers by Wednesday night.

The metro bus depot near Peshawar Mor spreads over an area of 16.5 acres to accommodate 100 buses.

The depot has the administration block, drivers’ rest area, washing and maintenance areas, fuel station, cafeteria and mosque.

“Once the depot is sealed, it will be difficult for the PMTA to keep the bus operation between Rawalpindi and Islamabad running from October 30 evening but the administration will take the final decision in this regard,” said PMTA Operation Manager Shamila Mohsin while talking to Dawn.

Depot is located in vicinity of JUI-F’s public meeting

She said all the buses operated from the depot and were parked there at night. She said if it was sealed, it would be difficult for the PMTA to operate buses between Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Ms Mohsin said Islamabad’s deputy commissioner’s permission was mandatory for operating metro buses.

“We brought the depot’s security issue into his knowledge, and the decision to seal it was taken by him,” she said.

The operation manager said in the past, during a sit-in by a religious party in 2018, its workers had damaged Faizabad and Parade Lane metro bus stations and the authority had to spend millions of rupees on their repair.

She, however, said the administration had not given anything in writing but verbally asked the authority to hand over the metro bus depot to it.

She said since the public meeting venue was a few meters away from the depot, the law enforcement agencies personnel would be deployed on the premises of the bus depot.

“The bus service earns approximately Rs3 million daily,” said Shamila Mohsin.

She said that 120,000 passengers travelled on metro bus daily during week days while 90,000 to 95,000 on Sundays and Saturdays.

She said the number fluctuated in week days also.

Another senior PMTA official told Dawn that the security issue was discussed with the Islamabad administration, which decided to cordon it off with containers for the safety of buses and fuel station.

Replying to a question, he said running the bus service depends on the situation on ground.

“If the number of participants of the public meeting is much higher we will be constrained to ground the buses, but if they are less, we will operate the buses at least in Rawalpindi,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2019