Law and order: ‘Safe City Project should be completed before Muharram’

Shahbaz Sharif directs officials to use project to monitor Muharram processions

LAHORE:

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has directed officials to complete the first phase of the Safe City Authority project in Lahore before the start of Muharram.

“The chief minister has directed officials concerned to make the integrated command, control and communication (IC3) system functional in Lahore before the start of Muharram. He wants the Muharram processions this year to be monitored through electronic surveillance. A central control room of the authority in Lahore will be established in Qurban Lines. A special force will be recruited for the authority. Initially, officials from the Punjab Police might be inducted in the force. However, only in limited numbers,” an official of the Chief Minister’s Secretariat said.

The authority is to have a separate fund (called the IC3 fund) to meet its expenses. It will consist of grants from federal and provincial governments, foreign donors and loans and proceeds from sale of its assets or any recovery made.

“Under the project, scanners will be installed at the city entrances. Thousands of surveillance cameras will also be installed in the city. Satellite imagery will also be used to view the ground situation in case of any emergency,” the official said. “This year, surveillance of Muharram processions will be conducted from a centralised control room,” he said.

The authority will work under the chairmanship of the chief minister. It will have a vice chairperson. Other members will include the finance minister, the chief secretary, the Planning and Development Board chairman, the home secretary, the finance secretary, the Punjab Information Technology Board chairman, police officials, three eminent persons nominated by the government and lawmakers.

The authority will have an executive committee chaired by the chief secretary and a management committee chaired by the IGP. It will have a chief operating officer who will also serve as the secretary of the authority.

On Wednesday, the chief minister chaired a third meeting of the Punjab Safe Cities Authority. “Making the province safe and peaceful is our top priority. All resources are being utilised for the purpose. Work continues speedily on the project in Lahore,” he said.

He said that apart from the provincial capital, the project would be started in Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala. “Safe Cities Project is of great importance for eradication of crimes and improvement of law and order. The project will prove effective in reducing crime,” he said.

He said that use of modern technology will also help in curbing criminal elements. “The Safe Cities Project is being completed speedily in a professional manner. It will be a state-of-the-art project. This project will be completed in a transparent manner. It will prove to be a milestone in the history of the country,” he said. He said that the government was promoting the use of information technology in various sectors. Minister Bilal Yasin, MNA Pervaiz Malik, MPA Jehangir Khanzada, Special Assistant Rana Maqbool Ahmad, the chief secretary and the inspector general of police were among those present.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2016.