Peshawar: BRT bus driver who ran over woman arrested from Hayatabad

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: The driver of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) bus that ran over and killed a woman was arrested in Hayatabad on Sunday, authorities said.

A day earlier, Lubna, a resident of Charsadd, who worked as a maid in Hayatabad, was hit by a BRT bus on its test run when she was crossing the BRT corridor. The incident occurred allegedly due to absence of grills around the corridor that left huge gaps on both sides of the corridor.

The gaps on both sides of the track in the corridor are used by residents to cross the roads, as most of the overhead bridges are not yet complete.

Two BRT buses had been doing a test run when the incident occurred. It led to the suspension of the test run of the multi-million dollar project.

A case was registered on the complaint of the deceased woman’s husband. The woman was laid to rest earlier today.

Moreover, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government took notice and has sought a report of the incident.

The project has come under immense scrutiny and criticism in the recent days with top Peshawar Development Authority officer and KP Transport Secretary Kamran Rehman Khan being removed over the delay.

The BRT project, hailed as a “world-class transport service” aimed at generating “greater economic activity and prosperity in the city” on its official website, was launched by former chief minister Pervez Khattak during his tenure.

Construction on the project began in October 2017, but work on the fixed-rail continues to this day.

The BRT line is a 26-kilometre east-west corridor in the city, designed to move thousands of passengers per day. Of the total 31 bus stations, 11 are still incomplete. Work on the three bus depots, at Chamkani, Hayatabad and Dabgari, is unfinished. Over 200 buses were to reach Peshawar. So far, only 21 have arrived from China.

During all of this, the cost of the corridor has shot up from Rs49 billion to Rs66 billion.