Chitral -- The population of District Chitral has grown well over 0.5 million. Today Chitral projects of being a small beautiful and peaceful city. Although many of the trends that we see in major cities of Pakistan have now been adopted as part of the town's life but one major problem that exist, is of lack of a proper public transport system within the town. Being the district headquarters, all important government offices, district courts, banks, NGOs offices, hospitals, markets, schools and colleges are located in the town.

Majority of the people come to the town from far flung areas and belong to low income group. Once they come to the town they have either to travel on foot or hire taxi. The non custom paid (NCP) cars privately owned by people have now become primary mode of transportation not only within the town but to other areas like, Garam Chashma, Booni, Drosh, and so on. Since there is no check on the fares, these taxi owners charge people as much as they wish. For an instance, Chitral airport is merely a couple of kilometers away from the town’s main taxi stand, however, they charge PRK 200, for just a few minutes of drive. Similar is the case if they are hired to go elsewhere within the town. The general public seems to be helpless since they couldn’t voice their concerns. Poor people who come to town for medical treatment are affected the most. The district administration never bothers to look into these petty matters that are causing the poor to pay heavy price for.

The government should take notice of the situation and should facilitate people and save their precious time and loosing energy. There should be government sponsored transport system within the town. It would be better if such a system is introduced free of cost. This would, no doubt, be a ‘wow factor’ for the government. If that costs too much, which is unlikely possible, people who avail the facility should be nominally charged. Let the tired legs rest for much to do back home. -- Syed Gohar Ali Shah, Islamabad, 20 July 2011.

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