On January 19, a Green Line bus was pelted with stones, breaking some of the windows of the vehicle. Sindh Police claims that a group of children living in a hut along the Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRTS) road pelted stones.
The District Central SSP, who reached the spot, ordered the concerned SHO to search for the children. The provincial police chief has ordered all the concerned SHOs to increase patrolling on the BRTS route.
Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (SIDCL), which was created to look after the affairs of the Green Line project, has claimed that it has installed around 900 security cameras on the BRTS route and also deployed around 250 security guards.
In another incident, the door of one of the Green Line buses at Patel Para stop broke down, leaving passengers trapped inside the vehicle for a while as two more buses were parked behind it.
Green Line BRTS project manager Abdul Aziz told The News on Saturday that both incidents are normal for this type of service. He confirmed that stones were thrown from an illegal settlement along the BRTS road.
He said that such incidents also happen frequently with the bus services of Multan and Peshawar. He clarified that SIDCL has not written to anyone.
“The security of the Green Line BRTS has already been outsourced,” he said, adding that the outsourced company to protect the bus service can call the police or rangers in case of any untoward incident.
As far as the damage done to one of the buses is concerned, he said that all the vehicles of BRTS are insured and have spare parts to last for three years, adding that the broken mirrors have already been repaired. It's over
Commenting on the malfunction of the door, he said that such incidents are very common in automatic buses.
He explained that when automatic doors freeze, the entire system needs to be restarted, which can take a while.
He shared that he has two breakdown (tow) trucks at different stations to clear the defective bus in case of emergency. He said that most of the green line bus stations also have the facility of passing lanes.
'Rangers for Patrol'
Taking cognizance of the stone pelting incident, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said that this attack is extremely shameful.
He is quoted in a handout as saying that after a very long wait the people of Karachi
Received a comfortable and modern mode of mass transportation from the federal government in the form of the Green Line.
Expressing concern over the stone pelting incident, he said that some miscreants tried to damage the bus service, it was a very dangerous incident.
He claimed that the union-run SIDCL, being the operator of the Green Line bus service, had formally complained to the Karachi police about the attack.
He also said that the police should investigate the incident, as well as ensure proper monitoring to prevent such tragic incidents in future. He demanded strict action against the miscreants who tried to attack the Green Line bus. Ismail said he had contacted the Sindh Rangers chief after the attack and asked them to deploy paramilitary forces to patrol the bus service route to avoid such incidents in future.
'Transport Mafia'
On the other hand, Federal Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications Syed Aminul Haque expressed displeasure over the alleged reports of people being attacked at some stations of the Green Line bus service.
Haque, who is also the central leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan, said the "transport mafia" is not happy with the modern transport system available to residents of Karachi. He said that the residents of the city would thwart the intentions of the miscreants.
He stressed that it is the responsibility of the Sindh government to provide security to the Green Line bus service. He said that the residents of the city should take care of the service as their property. "The elements responsible for trying to destabilize the city want to ruin this service."