Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan and most backward in terms of infrastructure development. Travelling by roads is the most common mode of transportation for the passengers of the province. Total length of National Highways in Balochistan is 3,599 Kilometers and Quetta is the center of majority of long distance journeys. Passengers traveling on highways of Balochistan face a great deal of problems which are well known but always go unnoticed.
There is not a single operational trauma center at the highways of Balochistan. Any patient who suffers injury during the journey is rushed to either Quetta or Karachi depending on the location of the accident. On 10th of January this year, a group of passengers were wounded in an accident on highway near Bolan. One of the passengers among them, Kamran Mengal, succumbed to wounds due to delay in receiving medical treatment. According to official statistics, in 2014 alone 240 people lost their lives in major road accidents and a lot of them died to lack of immediate medical attention. In that context, Civil Society Balochistan recently demanded from government to establish trauma centers on all highways of the province or else they will protest.
Conversations with the Passengers at bus stops in Quetta reveal that lack of proper facilitates available at mid-journey stops are a major issue. Passengers travelling from Quetta to Karachi stop in Khuzdar where there are no proper arrangements whatsoever. Especially female passengers suffer more as there are no properly maintained lavatories available for them at those stops.
Quality and prices of the food provided to passenger at mid-journey stopover as another major issue for passengers. “Coach Drivers collude with restaurant owner and stop at a particular restaurant which charges very high prices for food,” said Muhammad Zaman a frequent traveler to Karachi from Quetta. He added that a plate of food normally available for Rs. 80 is sold as expensive as Rs. 250. Lamenting the lack of check and balance on the restaurant owners, Muhammad Zaman added that food supplied to the passengers is of poor quality and passengers often face problems of food poisoning due to eating them.
Ibrahim Baloch, another passenger told Balochistan Inside that there is no check and balance on the coaches who transport passengers on highways. “These companies raise the fares at will and there is no sign of check and balance on them.” He added that it’s the duty of Provincial Transport Authority (PTA) to regulate buses on the highways and that department has utterly failed to do its job.
A lot of passengers also complained about the long delay they face due to security checkpoints throughout the journey. A passenger who requested not to be named said that several hours are wasted due to the unnecessary delay caused to the coaches at Security checkpoints. He also complained that security personnel enter the coaches at multiple times during the journey which is very inconvenient for the passengers.
After a painful journey, when Passengers from Balochistan enter Karachi, they face yet another problem in form of Sindh Police. Fida Ahmed, a student who travels to Karachi by bus, says that Karachi Police mobiles patrolling between the area of Yousaf Goth and Lee Market stop passengers from Balochistan and question them unnecessarily. “They only allow them to go after receiving their share of Bribe,” alleged Fida Ahmed.
Transporters who run their passenger vehicles on the highways of Balochistan also share their ordeal. Agha Shah Hussain who is a transporter based in Panjgur claims that passenger buses are stopped by custom personnel until bribes have not been paid to them. He lamented that custom force exists on highways just to collect bribe and not to serve. He also complained of the attitude of Sindh rangers who also stop buses coming from Balochistan at Hub check posts for hours.
Khuda-e-Raheem Baloch another passenger said that passenger buses travelling from Quetta to Karachi are often looted near Khuzdar. He said that there has been a marked decrease in the looting incidents but still highways are not completely safe for passengers and transporters. He added that government did not listen to the demands of the transporters even if they do strikes.
National Highway Authority (NHA) and National Highways and Motorways Police (NHMP) are responsible for managing highways and providing security on them, respectively. However both have apparently failed to regulate national highways and provide comfort to passengers. According to the details available on the website of NHMP, patrols of NHMP only protect 357 KM portion of 3,599 km long national highways of Balochistan.
When contacted by Balochistan Inside both NHA and NHMP officials were not available for comment. The obvious reason can be that they don’t consider themselves accountable to the people. Government of Balochistan is also not interested in solving the problems of the passengers. Therefore, there seems to be no end of the miseries of the passengers of Balochistan anytime soon.
Courtesy: This article was originally published in Balochistan Inside Magazine
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