The Rickshaw Drivers Association staged a protest here on Thursday against the ban imposed on two-stroke vehicles mover on three main roads of the city.

The protesters urged the concerned authorities to lift the ban and stop issuing challans to them.

Rickshaw drivers blocked traffic near Committee Chowk underpass for one hour. The policemen deployed there baton-charged the protesting rickshaw drivers. They even thrashed drivers of four-stroke rickshaws who were passing through the road at the time of the protest.

Talking to 'The News,' Two-Stroke Rickshaw Drivers Association President Gul Muhammad Khan said that the City Traffic Police had banned two-stroke rickshaws on Benazir Bhutto Road, Peshawar Road and Airport Road. According to him, traffic wardens were issuing challans of Rs500 to Rs1,000 if any two-stroke rickshaw was seen on these roads. "It is a very big amount for us as we hardly earn around Rs500 to Rs550 per day," he said.

"The City Traffic Police should allow us to ply our rickshaws on these roads or give us four-stroke rickshaws free of cost as we are not in a position to buy new rickshaws," he said. According to him, there are more than 1,500 two-stroke rickshaws in the city.

Gul Muhammad said that the concerned authorities should lift the ban, adding that they would again go on strike if the ban was not lifted.

Dilawar Khan, a two-stroke rickshaw driver, said: "If the government wants to make the environment clean by imposing a ban on two-stroke rickshaws then it should initiate a scheme for us to buy four-stroke rickshaws."

He said that many two-stroke rickshaw drivers were not in a position to buy four-stroke rickshaws. "Traffic wardens do not give us any relief and issue challans of Rs500 to Rs1,000 if any of us plies a two-stroke rickshaw on the banned roads," he added.

Muhammad Razzaq, a four-stroke rickshaw driver, told 'The News' that the City Traffic Police also issue challans for plying four-stroke rickshaws on these roads. He urged the concerned authorities to direct traffic wardens not to issue challans to four-stroke rickshaw drivers, as there is no ban on them.

District Regional Transport Authority Secretary Chaudhry Muhammad Asif, when contacted by 'The News,' said that two-stroke rickshaws give too much noise and a major source of pollution. "That’s why we have stopped issuing permits for these rickshaws," he added.

City Traffic Officer Dr. Akhtar Abbas told 'The News' that the decision to ban two-stroke rickshaws was taken to make the environment of the city clean, as two-stroke rickshaws are a major source of pollution. He said that four-stroke rickshaw drivers are issued challans for traffic violations and not for plying rickshaws on roads where entry of two-stroke vehicle mover is banned.