Sindh govt approves formation of Safe City Authority, commission for Forensic Lab

The two bodies would ensure implementation of the projects, says chief minister

KARACHI: The Sindh government has approved a proposal for the establishment of Sindh Safe City Authority and a provincial forensic commission. The decision has been taken so that both the projects, the fate of which has been hanging in balance for a few years now, maybe completed.

A meeting, headed by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, was held on Thursday at the CM House to discuss, and decide on the implementation of the two projects - Safe City and the Forensic Lab. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, Information Technology (IT) Minister Taimur Talpur, Planning and Development Chairperson Naheed Shah, IGP Dr Kaleem Imam, Principal Secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro, Home Secretary Qazi Kabir, Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shalwani, Karachi AIG Ghulam Nabi Memon and other relevant officers and experts.

Briefing the meeting, IGP Imam said that the feasibility for the safe city project has been approved by the government at a cost of Rs10 million and the preparation for PC-I is in progress. He added that it was a big project and would be taken up after the completion of its feasibility report.

The CM was informed that there are 25,000 CCTV cameras installed at different locations of the city and are being monitored through the command and control centre at the IGP's office.

The government has allocated Rs10m in the current fiscal year. It was pointed out at the meeting that a scheme was launched for the installation of 10,000 CCTV cameras at a cost of Rs200 million at various points in the city and in other divisional headquarters in the city.

The CM said that given the size of the project, a Sindh Safe City Authority should be established first so that it could implement various components of the project, including installation of CCTV cameras. According to the CM, the project is currently being handled by the Sindh IT department and the IT wing of the police department. "It lacks the expertise of the home department and other departments so an independent authority with a director-general should be established first," said the CM.

Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah said that a draft of the Safe City Authority was presented before the cabinet which constituted its committee under Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh to review the draft law. Mumtaz said that the committee has suggested some changes in the law which would be presented in the next cabinet meeting for approval.

The CM directed the home secretary to finalise the recommendations made by the cabinet committee and get them approved by the cabinet before sending it to the assembly.

Sindh Forensic Commission

While briefing the meeting, Home Secretary Kazi Kabir said that 30 acres of land has been acquired for the establishment of the Forensic Science Lab in Bin Qasim taluka in Malir district. The project would be completed in three years, he said.

The services to be offered at the forensic lab would include, audiovisual analysis, computer forensics, crime and death scene investigation, DNA and serology, forensic photography, narcotic, toxicology, trace chemistry, polygraph, firearms and tool masks, latent fingerprints, pathology and an explosive lab.

The IGP said that the Sindh police has already established forensic facilities in Karachi, Hyderabad and Larkana. According to him, these labs include a firearms unit, fingerprints unit, vehicle examination unit, digital forensic unit, specialised crime scene units and one mobile forensic unit. These are all operational, he said.

The DNA serology facility is currently available in Sindh at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro. It was established in 2015. In the last four years, it has analysed around a 1,000 cases, 60 per cent of which came from Karachi while 33 per cent were from other areas of Sindh and some were also from Balochistan.

It was pointed out at the meeting that another 30 acres of land would be required for the Forensic Academy and yet another 30 acres for the hostel and residential colony. Last year the provincial government released Rs220m which was deposited in the project's account.

The CM directed his chief secretary to work out all requirements for the establishment of a forensic commission and present a report in the next cabinet meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2019.