QUETTA: The federal government has disapproved the Balochistan government plan to provide 100 green buses for Quetta city to provide better travelling facilities to the people of the provincial capital.

The provincial government had proposed a plan to the federal government for providing 100 green buses to bring about a visible improvement in public transport sector, official sources said. The proposal was sent to Islamabad for inclusion in the upcoming federal budget after its approval, but the federal authorities concerned rejected it and did not make it part of the next financial year’s budget.

On a public-private partnership basis, eight green buses were plying along the route from Balochistan University to Baleli in the provincial capital, charging each passenger a fare of Rs40 only.

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Balochistan is the only province that has no mass transit transport facility and people had to travel in second hand private local buses on different routes which were also charging more fare than the green buses system.

Anwarul Haq Kakar, who belonged to Balochistan, had promised during his tenure as caretaker prime minister to provide 100 green buses to Quetta, but that promise remained unfulfilled.

It was for this reason that the provincial government sent the proposal to the federal government to include the 100 green buses plan in the upcoming budget, official sources said.

About the present status of the proposed project, Balochistan government spokesperson Sha­hid Rind said it had been “shelved”, but expressed the resolve that the provincial government would once again take up the green buses plan with the centre for approval.

He said that providing mass transit green buses in Quetta was a priority of the chief minister of Balochistan Mir Sarfraz Bugti. “Even if we don’t get 100 buses, we will try to get as many as possible from the federal government,” he said, adding that maybe the buses would be arranged through the provincial budget.

The federal government had the authority to approve or reject the green buses plan of the provincial government in federal budget, Mr Rind explained.

However, he expressed the hope the issue would be resolved through negotiation.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2024