SWABI, Oct 3: Students of various colleges in Swabi have been facing transportation problems, as local transporters refuse to pick them from bus stops with a plea that they suffer losses when they accommodate students who usually pay half fare.

The students of postgraduate college, Swabi, clashed with the transporters on Saturday for not stopping their vehicles for them and a similar incident occurred near the commerce college when drivers refused to pick students for nearly one hour and half hours. The situation of students of government degree college, Chota Lahor, was not much different.

The students said that whenever they blocked a road the district administration would depute a traffic police official to stop vehicles for them but after a few days the official was shifted and the problem persisted.

Transporters said that they could not accommodate students paying half fare in their vans and pick-ups because it caused loss to them.

“If I take five students from Topi to Swabi it causes a loss of Rs37 per trip to me,” said a van driver Umer Hayat Khan, adding that after working for the whole day he had earned only Rs400 of which he would also pay his conductor's wage and the van owner's share.

However, the students said they had entered a verbal agreement with the transporters in the presence of a police representative that in each trip they would pick up three students from bus stops on half fare.

“The transporters' stubbornness often leads to blockade of roads and clashes with students. It is the failure of the administration to ensure the implementation of the agreement,” said a student Zafar Ali.

In addition, a large number of girl students of various colleges daily wait for hours to get a van though transporters say the girls always pay full fare silently. However, the transporters say that the problem is also due to the shortage of vehicles in the district.

The local administration and high officials of the colleges should listen to the problems of both the transporters and students and evolve a permanent solution to the problem.