Islamabad - Metro bus station at Faizabad has not been reopened yet after it was torched by activists of religious outfits during their sit-in last month.
Faizabad serves as a junction between Rawalpindi and Islamabad and a large number of commuters board on other vehicles or the metro bus from here. Closure of the station has deprived commuters using Faizabad as a transit station of a big facility.
The TLYR sit-in continued for more than twenty days in November. Seizure of Faizabad Interchange had jammed vehicle movement in the perimeter of three kilometres in the area. The sit-in also led to suspension of metro bus service between the two cities.
After the sit-in was called off, metro bus service was restored, but the Faizabad station still remains closed, as the TLYR activists had badly damaged the facility. Since then, the station has not been made functional even after the passage of a month.
The metro authorities have pasted posters on every station that the Faizabad station would remain closed till further orders.
“I don’t know when this second order will be given to end my problem,” said Shafqat, an employee in a private firm at Blue Area.
He said that residents of Sohan and Khanna Pul were facing severe problems in commuting due to closure of Faizabad metro station. He added that Faizaabbad metro station was nearest to their residential areas and they had to avail local transport now because of its closure.
He said that local transport was not a good replacement of the metro bus service, which, he said, provided better commuting facility in low price.
The people who do not want to avail the local transport have to walk two kilometres to access the next metro station to get the bus.
“The senior citizens are facing more problems as they cannot walk for kilometres to access another metro station,” he said.
The Faizabad interchange has the largest bus station in the city where people from across the country reach to enter in the federal capital. The metro bus station on this interchange was always found full of rush; people standing in queues whether travelling towards Islamabad or Rawalpindi.
But, since the station has been shut down, the people from other cities have been left confused.
“My brother had guided me to reach Faizabad and get metro bus to reach PIMS,” said Shafiq Ahmed who was visiting the hospital to see his ailing cousin there.
He said that his brother also had no idea that the Faizabad station was closed and he had to hire a cab and pay more from his pocket than his affordability. An official at Kahmir Highway metro bus station said that they had no idea when the station would be opened.
He said that the station was under renovation also to cover the damage. “Faizabad station is one of the busiest stations,” he said.