Inadequate funds may close shuttle facility in KU

Growing financial constraints and poor infrastructure may oblige management of Karachi University to shutdown its shuttle facility for the students and teachers of the varsity, Business Recorder learnt on Monday. Students coming from outskirts and even from the centre of the city are forced to travel in over loaded point buses to reach university which may prove fatal any time. Many Students had also lost their limbs in various mishaps.
There are only 27 point busses in the fleet for more than 25000 students that are inadequate to meet the requirement. It has also been learnt that most of the buses in fleet have developed faults and are in deteriorated condition. KU needs some 100 more buses to run its transport system in a smooth way, said Zulqernain Shadab, Chairman transport committee of KU. He said that dearth of resources and unavailability of funds is the major obstacle in the improvement of transport facility.
The monthly revenue income from the points is Rs 0.75 million while fuel consumption is of Rs 5 million per month, which shows a big gap between revenue and expenses. They said 2700 non-teaching employees and 7,000 teaching staff is working in this varsity and most of them rely on transport facility due to this the load of work has been increased during last few years.
Zulqernain Shadab further added that Vice Chancellor has chalked out a master plan to increase buses. KU will add 260 busses in its fleet till 2050, he informed, adding that three buses would be included soon in the near future. We are operating twenty buses with staff of 32 and are trying to run transport system on maximum capacity, Zulqernain said.
He was of the view that soaring fuel prices is another difficulty to run transport system as students used to pay only Rs 5 for getting the facility. Chairman transport committee pointed out that Rs 0.8 million required every month for overhauling and maintenance work of the buses.
He recommended that University should settle endowment with maximum money to run the transport affairs in a befitting manner. He urged that students should cooperate with the transport department by allowing them to increase fares in order to minimise loses. "The prices of diesel are surging day by day. The varsity has to pay subsidy in head of fares. By withdrawing subsidy on fares performance of transport department can be enhanced," he marked.
He requested to the members of the civil society and corporate sector to join hands to provide university graduates with facilities of transport. Transport department is also running shuttle service in university premises as per the schedule given by administration but despite passing years; the administration is unable to evolve the schedule for evening students.
Scribe also learnt that the university management had already banned entry of private vehicles in the premises due to security reasons, which have doubled the burden on transport department. There is need of drivers and conductors' staff to provide evening students with transport facility but the university cannot hire staff to run shuttle or pick and drop facilities for the students of second shift.
Meanwhile students of varsity have severely criticised the transportation department and said that management is reluctant to address the miseries of the students and has least concerns with their plights. They demanded of the government to bring more points in KU and remove faulty points from fleet in order to facilitate them.