Summary An analysis of Tahirul Qadri's long march by Dunya News reveals interesting statistics.
LAHORE: Tehreek Minhajul Quran chief Tahhirul Qadri has announced a long march to Islamabad on January 14.
According to a Dunya News, if four million people join the long march, the total length of the caravan of vehicles will reach 1,297 kilometers due to which all roads leading to Islamabad from Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa and Kashmir may face a severe traffic jam.
At least 80, 000 cars will be needed if the participants want to reach Islamabad by cars due to which the length of the caravan may reach to 560 kilometers according to average 7-feet length of a car.
If 10 percent or 0.4 million people belong to Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the remaining 3.2 million people’s participation has been claimed from other parts of the country.
The buses containing 39 to 62 seats have average 38 to 44 feet length while the length coaster with 21 seats and wagon with 14 seats is about 8 to 12 feet.
However, if the capacity of passengers in the buses is reviewed, 64, 974 buses are required to carry averaging 59 passengers per bus.
The average length of these buses has been calculated 41 feet and if they run bumper to bumper on the roads, the length of the caravan will be 812 kilometers and the total length of cars and buses caravan will be 1,372 kilometers.
Meanwhile, if the length of the roads is analyzed, the distance on GT Road from Lahore to Islamabad is 269 kilometers while the Lahore-Islamabad distance from Motorway is 367 kilometers.
The distance from Muzaffarabad to Islamabad is 138 kilometers and from Peshawar to Islamabad it is 186 kilometers.
The total length of these four routes is 960 kilometers that is 412 kilometers less than the required length to accommodate the vehicles caravan of Tahirul Qadri.
If the average bus fare of every passenger is counted Rs 400, only the expenditure of the transportation of participants will reach Rs 1.6 billion.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the total number of registered buses in the country is 2, 01167 and with 32% of buses engaged for the long march, there will acute shortage of transport for the general public.
If the distance between every vehicle is maintained minimum 6 feet according to traffic laws, the statistics of National Highway Authority show that the length of the caravan will be bigger than the length of the N-5 that is largest highway of the country from Karachi to Torkham. ( Zulfiqar Ali Mehto)
