PESHAWAR: Commuters suffered inconvenience on Wednesday as transporters blocked GT Road by burning old tyres and keeping passenger vehicles off the roads to protest increase in various taxes by the provincial government.

The wheel-jam strike continued for some hours against the recent increase in fee for renewal of vehicle registration, route permits, fitness certificates and routine penalties by traffic police personnel.

The transporters led by the leaders of their unions took out a joint rally from Haji Camp General Bus Stand in the morning to Mufti Mehmood Flyover, where they burned old tyres and blocked the road.

The protest cause serious problems for motorists as long queues of vehicles were observed on both sidesof the road forcing commuters, including women and children, to go to their destinations on foot with luggage.

The city roads and traffic plunged into a chaos after transporters closed GT Road for more than three hours.

Earlier in the day, there was no public transport on roads as all transporters didn`t come onto the roads forcing commuters to hire taxis and rickshaws to reach their destinations through different streets and link roads.

The protest started from the General Bus Stand on GT Road, where transporters first demonstrated and then marched towards the Rehman Baba Chowk (Mufti Mehmood Flyover) in front of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly.

The protest brought the traffic across the city roads to a standstill forcing commuters, including women, children and elderly people, to walk to reach their destinations.Rickshaw drivers overcharged passengers.

The traffic police closed the Sikandar Khan Khalil Flyover connecting two portions of GT Road and diverted the city-bound traffic to Gulbahar area. The diversion caused traffic mess on the narrow artery leading to Gulbahar as motorists tried to get out of it.

A traffic warden in Hashatngari said the bridge was closed and the traffic was diverted after protesters began walking towards the city from the General Bus Stand.

He said had the bridge not been closed, traffic in the entire city would have been chaotic.

The streets of Gulabahar area were flooded with vehicles, which were bumper to bumper.

Also, people were seen waiting at bus stops for public transport for long hours.

Zahid Ali, a commuter waiting at the Firdous bus stop, told Dawn hehad been waiting for public transport for around an hour as there was no vehicle.

He said he was even unable to hire taxi as the road was completely blocked near the provincial assembly`s building.

Saleem Khan, another commuter, said he was forced to walk up to Firdous bus station from General Bus Stand due to the absence of transport vehicles on and closure of roads.

Later, transporter leaders including Haji Amanullah, Haji Zahir Shah and Khan Zaman Afridi called off the strike after meeting Peshawar deputy commissioner Riaz Khan Mehsud and transport department director Manzoor Khan.

The two officials promised they would ensure resolution of the transporters` demands in two weeks.

`If our demands are not met by Nov 15, we will meet again to devise the future course of action,` Khan Zaman told Dawn.