LARKANA: As many as 30,000 bike rickshaws are plying in Larkana district in violation of apex court directions.
After the ban on such rickshaws in Karachi, many owners have reached here, causing serious troubles to smooth traffic flow as most of the three-wheeler motorcycle rickshaws are driven by boys who are unaware of traffic laws. Traffic cops told newsmen that a number of those rickshaws was rising day by day in the city. They said that children were riding those vehicles who had neither driving licenses nor proper documents.
A traffic police officer, Waheed Abro, said that traffic jams had become a routine issue in Larkana because of the fact that those vehicles were driven by small children and they had made entire city roads as their route which was an illegal act. He said a year ago, the number of such bikes was approximately 20,000 and now it had risen to 30,000, an increased of 10,000 in 12 months.
He said their documents were incomplete without physical fitness and registration; hence, they were running on roads unlawfully. It must be mentioned here that in 2017, apex court banned plying of such illegal vehicles against which the owners had staged protests but their appeal was dismissed. Ali Hassan Mugheri and Shahmir Jatoi said that those were riding those vehicles because of unemployment to face price-hike in this poverty era, adding documents should be prepared and given to them by the government, adding they could not afford the cost of preparing the papers.
They said traffic cops were getting illegal gratification from each vehicle owner and their union after which they were allowed to run the roads and park vehicles wherever they find a suitable place. They said they were unknown to the court decision against such vehicles.