Every top administrator who takes over the Rawalpindi commissioner's office makes a promise to improve and upgrade the Pirwadhai general bus stand. However, these promises are rarely carried out, in part because top administrators rarely have enough time to carry out their plans and issue transfer orders.
Each of Rawalpindi's five commissioners issued directives for the improvement of the bus stand over the past two years, but nothing was done.
The terminal has a deplorable appearance, with garbage piles all over and shopkeepers and vendors occupying passengers' waiting areas and pavements.
Every day, hundreds of passengers travel to and from Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Alipur, Bahawalpur, Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Peshawar, Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gilgit, Chitral, Swat, Skardu, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir on more than 20,000 buses that depart from the bus terminal.
Due to the rising number of robberies and thefts, the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC) announced last year that it would hand over the entire security system of the Pirwadhai General Bus Stand to a private security company. This was done to ensure the safety of passengers and their property.
To ensure safety at the bus stop, the private security company was supposed to install metal detectors, walk-through gates at main locations, and closed-circuit cameras. Additionally, a control room was planned to monitor vehicle and person movement. However, the project was never implemented.
The identical instructions to improve the bus stop's condition have been issued by RMC offices. Over 200 kanals make up the bus stop.
Liaquat Ali Chatta, administrator of the RMC and commissioner of Rawalpindi, has now given the RMC the task of fixing the bus stop and making it better.
The Pirwadhai General Transport Stand, laid out a long time back on 200-kanal, has turned into a center point of infringements with unfortunate tidiness and security game plans and absence of lighting and dilapidated sitting areas for travelers and foul public washrooms. According to sources, the commissioner has delegated the upgrade of the bus stand to the RMC.
At the Pirwadhai general bus stand, theft, robbery, and other crimes are common. The general bus stand and the Pirwadhai police station have not been able to control crime at all.
Drug addicts, begging people, and nomads can be found in bus stands, waiting rooms, and on sidewalks.
According to the sources, instructions have been given to install security guards, CCTV cameras, a separate central control room, a new traffic police checkpoint, staff to clean public washrooms and passenger rooms, and a new traffic police checkpoint.
Additionally, instructions have been issued to remove encroachments as soon as possible.
Additionally, it has been instructed to repair the general bus stand's footpaths.
Additionally, it has been decided to conduct security checks on all hotels, workshops, and other business centers within the bus stop's boundaries.
RMC Officer Infrastructure Raffaqat Hayat went to the bus stop to take a picture of it in its actual location.
According to sources, RMC Officer Regulation Imran Ali has also been given the responsibility of removing obstructions and submitting a report to the administrator and commissioner.