SHOPIAN: There commuters in south Kashmir’s Shopian have voiced concern over disappearance of public transport after 3 pm “that is putting them to inconvenience”.
Students, government employees and workers face problems to reach homes in the evening due to the lack of transport facilities. Many say they walk by foot to reach to their destinations.
The lack of bus services in the district has burdened cab operators – whose number according the commuters – is negligible “as many of them have opted for other jobs after the shutdown”.
“I have parked my sumo at home after the abrogation of Article 370 followed by shutdown. After the arrival of apple harvesting season, I transport apple boxes in mobile load carrier,” said Shakeel Ahmad, a former cab driver from Shopian.
Students said that they face problems both in reaching the district headquarter where majority of coaching centres are situated as well as back to home due to lack of public transport.“We get late to reach the educational institutions as cab operators start services late in the morning, and we have to go home early in the evening,” Zeenat Jan, one of the students said.
Locals said that the cab drivers not only charge them more fares but also stop working before evening. They allege that government is least concerned about providing them better transport facilities – “which is missing since decades in the district”.
Assistant regional transport officer Shopian, Muazzam Ali admitted that there is a problem of public transport in the district.
“I have written to the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) to provide some buses for the district to tackle the transport problems in district,” he said, adding that he is hopeful that the better services will be provided to people very soon.

Raashid Hassan