FAISALABAD, July 29: The district administration has decided to impose a ban on plying of donkey-carts in eight bazaars and the adjoining commercial markets to minimize the environmental pollution and for smooth traffic flow.

A spokesman for the district government said here on Thursday that a comprehensive plan had been chalked out to replace the donkey-carts in order to resolve the problems of traffic blockade.

He said in the first phase, the decision had been taken to ban plying of donkey-carts in eight bazaars of the city by replacing the animal-driven carts with auto-loaders. District Nazim Zahid Nazir had issued instructions for provision of 100 auto-loaders to owners of donkey-carts for which Rs5 million had been allocated as interest-free loans.

He said the SME Bank had been involved in this regard and auto-loaders would be provided on easy instalments. The prescribed forms for getting vehicles were being provided free of cost and a special counter to this effect had been set up in the office of the district coordination officer, the spokesman added.

He said after completing the task of provision of auto-loaders to a maximum number of donkey-cart owners, a complete ban would be imposed on plying of animal-driven carts in the city.

It may be noted here that citizens have been demanding the replacement of donkey-carts with auto-loaders or vans for the last many years, but lack of financial resources was a major hindrance. There are over 40,000 animal-driven carts in the city and the adjoining areas which hamper the smooth flow of traffic.

WORKERS RELEASED: As many as 15 powerloom workers who were rounded up by the factory area police for staging protest demonstrations and blocking roads, were released here on Thursday.

The workers, including labour leaders Ghulam Rasool, Abdul Jabbar, Abdul Razaq, Naveed, Shafiq, Sajjad, were handed over to notables of the area on the guarantee that they would not take part in any 'unlawful' activity in future.