KABUL (Pajhwok): Some passenger transport companies on Sunday closed the Khair Khana road in capital Kabul in protest against what they said police forced them to use Paitakht Terminal only.
On the other hand, a number of other transport companies said the terminal was a good place both for transport companies owners and passengers. They say the tax applied by Paitakht Terminal was also fair compared to charges applied by other private terminals.
According to a report, Paitakht Terminal was opened with private sector investment in a land belonging to the Afghan Red Crescent Society on May 25, 2019.
Kabir Kabirkhel, in charge of Paitakht Terminal, said that the Ministry of Transport had a 25 percent share while 75 percent share belonged to a person who had invested in it.
He said they paid rent to the Afghan Red Crescent Society for the land they were using for the terminal.
However, a number of transport buses still use private stations but police try that all transport vehicles for north and northeastern zone use Paitakht Terminal only for controlling high traffic in Kabul city.
Dozens of drivers and officials of some transport companies today held a protest gathering in Khair Khana area of Kabul and claimed police forced them to use Paitakht Terminal and broke minors of two vehicles and beat two drivers.
The protestors blocked a road in Hesa-i-Awal section of Khair Khana during the protest.
Ghulam Habib, owner of Arya Bakhtar Transport Company, told reporters that Paitakht Terminal officials misused their relations in government and forced transport companies to use only their terminal. He said that Paitakht Terminal was private and they did not want to use it.
Haji Mohammad Zaman, another protestor, held similar views and said, “We will not go from here until we are permitted to use other terminals.”
In response to a question, he said, “We have never created traffic snarls in the city, but police have been ordered by Paitakht Terminal officials to force us to use only their terminal.”
He said Paitakht Terminal had no capacity for all vehicles and its officials also charged extra money.
Vehicles are charged from 800 afghanis to 1,000 afghanis for each turn in Paitakht Terminal, he said.
However, Abdullah Rahimi, a owner of transport vehicles, said, “We are provided with all needed facilities in Paitakht Terminal, in the past when we were taking passengers from Dahn-i-Chaman, Quwai Markaz, Parwan Dawom and other areas, we had to pay 2,000 afghanis in charge but now we give only 800 afghanis.”
Kabir Kabirkhel said he did not force anyone and police followed the order of the president for not letting some companies to take passengers from roadsides and create traffic congestion on roads.
He said that companies were ordered to use Paitakht Terminal for avoiding traffic in the city.
Each vehicle is charged 800 Afghanis each turn and it is based on rules of the Ministry of Transport, he said.
All facilities in Paitakht Termianl are considered for both passengers and transport vehicle owners and the terminal is built on standard basis which has the capacity for 500 vehicles and 25,000 to 35,000 passengers at a time, he said.
He said companies who try to avoid Paitakht Terminal were defaulted on tax for many years and if they use this terminal they had to clear their taxes first.
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