Claim: 50 new green buses have been acquired and have arrived in Quetta, Balochistan.
Fact: The provincial government has approved the acquisition of nine green buses, as part of “People’s Bus Service Quetta & Turbat,” under the 2024-2025 Public Sector Development Programme.
On 30 September, a Facebook page Quetta Capital News (archive) falsely claimed :
“.اچھی خبر: گرین بسوں کی تعداد میں اضافہ، 50 گرین بسیں کوئٹہ پہچ گئیں، انکا دائرہ مستونگ تک بڑھانے کا اعلان”
When translated from Urdu, the post said: “Good news: Increase in the number of green buses, 50 green buses have reached Quetta, it has been announced that their range will be extended to Mastung.”
The user has also shared a picture alongside the claim, apparently showing the arrival of 50 buses. However, it is from July 2023, when the Green Bus Service project was launched.
When the Green Bus Service was first launched in Quetta, the capital of southwest Balochistan in July of last year, eight green buses were initially deployed. This is considered the city’s first eco-friendly, air-conditioned bus service, with separate travelling sections for men and women.
The service caters to the travel needs of 11,000 passengers on average every day. However, the project is not enough for a city with a population of 2.5 million, whose residents often depend on outdated, dilapidated public transport buses and auto-rickshaws that charge exorbitant prices.
While the provincial authorities, time and again, floated the idea of adding “25” and “100” green buses after the initial launch, the plan never materialised. The federal government rejected the provincial government’s proposal of providing the city with100 buses in June 2024.
This is the first time the provincial government has approved plans for acquiring nine buses, sparking hopes of receiving the additional green buses among residents of Quetta.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check investigated and found that the claim is false.
According to Pro Pakistani’s report, the Government of Balochistan has only approved the procurement of nine more buses; five will be added to Quetta’s existing eight green buses, and the remaining four will be deployed in Turbat. The article attributed the news to Hayat Kakar, the Secretary Transport of Balochistan.
Soch Fact Check then contacted the Balochistan Transport Department but they had not responded to our interview requests as of the time of publishing.
Update: Soch Fact Check spoke to Kakar on 10 October, he dismissed the news about the buses, labeling it fake. “There’s no truth about the news [claim] circulating on social media about 50 buses. The transport department and government officials have not provided this information. Only nine buses have been approved, five for Quetta and four for Turbat,” he added.
Additionally, Asim Ahmed Khan, a journalist based in Quetta also posted on X (archive) about the approval of nine buses. Soch Fact Check contacted Khan, who confirmed that the claim circulating on Facebook about the arrival of “50” green buses in Quetta was untrue.
Moreover, he also shared with us a screenshot of the proposal for acquiring green buses, posted on 3 October on X by the Minister of Planning & Development Balochistan Zahoor Buledi, which confirmed that the provincial government has approved the procurement of only nine buses and not 50.
Document screenshot uploaded by Zahoor Buledi on X (formerly Twitter)
“The Planning and Development Department has approved PC-1 of People’s Bus Service for public transport in Quetta and Turbat, 1st & 2nd largest cities of Balochistan respectively,” Buledi wrote on X (archive).
The purchase is part of the “People’s Bus Service Quetta & Turbat” project under the 2024-2025 Public Sector Development Programme, costing around PKR 900 million.
Furthermore, the purchase has only been approved at this point, and there is no credible evidence to corroborate that even the nine buses have arrived in Quetta yet.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes the claim about the arrival of 50 green buses in Quetta is false, as the acquisition of only nine buses has been approved at this point.
Virality
The Facebook post was shared 237 times and liked 7,400 times.
It also appeared on Facebook here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
Conclusion: The claim of 50 new green buses arriving in Quetta, Balochistan is not true. The provincial government has only approved a proposal for nine buses, which are yet to be acquired.
Background image in cover photo: Dawn
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