Goods transporters have announced a 40 percent raise in fares a day after the federal government jacked up the prices of petroleum products.
The Pakistan Railways has already increased charges of freight trains by 15 percent.
Transport operators have also called a meeting to raise fares on inter-city routes by another 10 percent.
The fares on intra-city transport are also expected to go up by Rs10 to Rs20 from Friday (today).
Bajash Niazi, the owner of Niazi Express Limited – a private bus company – said he had called a meeting of transporters to discuss the impact of the hike in fuel prices.
All Pakistan Goods Transporters Association General Secretary Nabeel Tariq said on Thursday the fare between Lahore and Karachi was set at Rs120,000. Previously, it was Rs80,000. He said their businesses had been destroyed due to the massive increase in oil prices.
The good transporters increased the fare from Rs60,000 to Rs80,000 between Lahore and Islamabad while the charges between Lahore and Peshawar were increased from Rs75,000 to Rs100,000.
Similarly, the fare between Lahore and Mansehra touched Rs70,000 from the previous rate of Rs55,000. The customers will be charged Rs140,000 for sending goods from Lahore to Quetta, the previous fare between the two destinations was Rs110,000.
Religio-political parties have strongly reacted to the government’s decision and termed it a “drone attack” on the public.
Jamaat-e-Islami information secretary Qaisar Sharif said the government had made miserable the life of the common man. The JI, he said, would not sit idle and devise a plan to start a movement against the “anti-people” policies of the incumbent government.
Pakistan Awami Tehreek, Majlise Wahdatul Muslimeen, Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan-Noorani, Jamiat Ahlehadith and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan also condemned the hike in fuel prices, saying the government had surrendered to the IMF.
