LAHORE – Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday ordered immediate resumption of ride-hailing services Careem and Uber while giving a 15 days deadline for registration of vehicles.
According to Punjab government’s spokesman, the chief minister has directed the provincial transport department to get in touch with the management of both companies in this regard.
https://twitter.com/GovtOfPunjab/status/826497958506090496
‘It is to inform that the matter regarding Careem and Uber will be resolved within 15 days as per the directions of chief minister’ said a tweet.
https://twitter.com/GovtOfPunjab/status/826499171867881473
https://twitter.com/GovtOfPunjab/status/826499610545942533
It is relevant to mention that the government declared three online transportation companies – Careem, Uber and A One as illegal and directed the authorities to launch a ‘crackdown’ on them.
The notification issued by the administration on Monday ordered the relevant authorities to launch a crackdown on the cab aggregator companies that were running illegally in Lahore.
Punjab Information technology Board (PITB) chairman and advisor to Chief Minister Punjab Umar Saif took to Twitter regarding the issue.
https://twitter.com/umarsaif/status/826334989809811456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In an interview to a leading daily, he said that the government did not issue any notification as it was an internal memo between the offices that was prematurely made public.
He said that the approach was being reviewed within the government, adding, “We are coming up with a formal policy.”
He said both Uber and Careem currently were not paying tax in Pakistan, however the Punjab government was handling the issue with an “innovative business model”.
He maintained that a committee under his chair has been constituted which would review the tax issues regarding the service.
On the other hand, Managing Director Careem, juniad Iqbal expressed that around 100,000 jobs would be created by the end of 2018 and that all over the world people were taking benefit from ride-hailing service.
He argued that if there are jobs there will be education and in the end this will eliminate resentment and even terrorism.
“We are negotiating with the government and ready to pay taxes, besides working along with the state departments,” he said.
