KARACHI: The Sindh Government’s Careem Cab Service ban has backfired as the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) showed an inability to follow the directions, Daily Times has learnt.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sindh’s transport department had asked the Inspector General (IG) Police and the PTA to stop illegal operation of mobile -App based taxi service, Careem, through internet facilitation. However, it has been learnt that the PTA refused to follow the Sindh Government’s decision saying that it does not have authority to stop such services.
According to the PTA, Sindh Government approached the authority requesting to suspend Careem Cab Service, but PTA informed them that blocking this type of service does not fall within the purview of the PTA while the telecom regulator asked Careem Cab Service to get the issue resolved with Sindh Governments’ Transport Department.
After knowing about the fact that PTA is unable to block Careem, Sindh Government took a U-turn and held a meeting with the taxi service management.
In a meeting, the Sindh government instructed Careem to get themselves registered with provincial authorities and in this regard the government has given one month time to them to comply with the law.
Meanwhile, Managing Director (MD) Careem Pakistan, Junaid Iqbal in a statement appealed to the governments of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with the respective chief ministers, to embrace the concept of ride-hailing as it will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and pave the way for more ‘hailing’ industries.
Sindh government was of the view that Careem Cab service is operating an illegal cab service in Karachi as well as other parts of the province by using internet facilities. The facilities of such services are in contravention with the provision of Section 39 and 44 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance, 1965 as no permission, route permit and fitness certificates have been obtained from Transport and Mass Transit Department and the government is facing huge loss of revenue.
According to Secretary Transport Tuaha Farooqui, dozens of letters were written to M/s Careem to comply with the legal issues, however they did not respond. The private cars need to be made commercial in order to be used as taxis.
