Capital’s police chief starts first day with public anger at traffic jams on Expressway. PHOTO: ISLAMABADPOLICE.GOV.PK
However, with increasing demands to fix the traffic mess on the Expressway, the new police chief has already been presented with his first challenge.
Khattak’s appointment as Islamabad’s new Inspector General was confirmed in a formal notification issued by the Establishment Division on Tuesday morning following approval from the interior ministry. Khattak had been handed the acting charge of inspector general of the capital on March 31 after former inspector general Tariq Masood Yasin was transferred to the Punjab.
A grade-20 officer in the Police Service of Pakistan, Khattak has thrice served as the acting IGP of the capital. He has also served as the additional superintendent, assistant inspector general and deputy inspector general in the Islamabad Police.
Traffic jams welcome IGP
As news of Khattak’s appointment spread, the capital’s residents were busy in spreading the news about something else. A massive traffic log jam on the Expressway near a police checkpoint near Faizabad.
A large number of people took to the official social media accounts of the police expressing their anger at how gridlocks were caused every morning at a check post near the Faizabad interchange.
“What happens is that five lanes are narrowed down to two at the checkpoint which creates jams,” said Zafar, a commuter.
Meanwhile, SP Traffic Khalid Rasheed explained that the snarl-ups at Faizabad were caused due to work going on at the checkpoint to install radio frequency identification (RFID) systems owing to which two lanes had been shut for traffic. This, Rasheed said, was causing the jams, particularly during the morning rush hours.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 26th, 2017.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ