PHOTO: EXPRESS
He was briefing the Provincial Public Safety and Police Complaint Commission (PPS&PCC) during a meeting chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah. The CM said that the damaged roads were being repaired, adding that the Karachi Municipal Corporation had already launched anti-encroachment operations.
According to Maher, there are 5.3 million vehicles in the metropolis, which include 3.2 million motorcycles and 1.2 million jeeps and cars, among other vehicles, operating on a road network of over 10,000 kilometres.
Maher pointed out that 52 roads are significantly obstructed by encroachments, adding that the city police had arrested 168 people during operations against these blockages. Out of 159 signals in the city, 33 signals were out of order, he said.
Doctors’ protests cause traffic jam in city
In addressing the matter of illegal parking, the commission was told that 31 commercial buildings had converted their parking spaces into shops and godowns. Mumtaz Ali Shah, the provincial chief secretary, said that notices had been issued to the owners of these buildings, directing them to restore the parking spaces.
The police suggested a plan where the Lines Area Parking Plaza and Baradari basement parking could be utilised to reduce the load of parked vehicles on the streets of Karachi. They also proposed three more grounds to be used for parking, namely Railway Ground near the General Post Office, China Ground at Kashmir Road, and a vacant plot at Hassan Square. The CM directed the chief secretary and the Sindh IGP to review the proposal and implement it if it was feasible.
In his plan to improve traffic in the city, Maher recommended the construction of a bypass road from West Wharf to Northern Bypass along the coastline, behind Machar Colony. He also proposed the construction of a southern bypass to divert traffic from Karachi Port Trust to Korangi Industrial Area via Sea View beach, the construction of an interchange bridge at ICI Junction, and the construction of a flyover bridge from PIDC bridge to the TPX container yard along Moulvi Tamizuddin Khan Road.
The CM responded that these projects had already been included in Karachi’s development package, and the Sindh local government minister had initiated a consultative meeting with the relevant agencies.
CM Shah further told the chief secretary to make arrangements for ‘speaking roads,’ with road signs and lane markings for the convenience and safety of the public. The chief secretary responded that several points had already been identified for these markings.
The commission was also informed that 3,363,753 tickets were issued by the traffic police in 2019, with the collection of fines of Rs755.8 million - 30 per cent more than the challans issued last year.
Action against gutka and narcotics
Briefing the commission, Sindh IGP Dr Kaleem Imam said that strict action had been taken against manufacturers and smugglers of gutka and mainpuri. His report stated that the police had arrested 6,995 suspects and seized over 3.5 million kilogrammes of the two substances, while also sealing 206 productions units.
‘Poor road engineering behind traffic congestion, accidents’
Meanwhile, he said, the police had also arrested 11,057 suspects in connection with narcotics, seizing 12.9 kilogrammes of ice, 72.7 kilogrammes of heroin, 698.9 kilogrammes of hashish, 7,619.7 kilogrammes of charas and 186.3 kilogrammes of opium. They further confiscated 180,844 bottles of local liquor and 2,353 bottles of imported liquor.
Iranian diesel
The commission was also informed that 1,141,111 litres of Iranian diesel had been seized and 448 people arrested for smuggling it by the police.
At this, the CM explained that although it was not the responsibility of the police to deal with this matter, he had assigned them the task because the money generated from the smuggling of Iranian diesel was used to finance terrorist activities.
Annual policing plan
The Sindh IGP said he would present the provincial annual policing plan in the next meeting, adding that the rules of the commission had been framed and sent to the Sindh Law Department for vetting.
Meanwhile, a resolution passed against Dr Imam for failing to attend the last two meetings of the commission was withdrawn at his request.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 19th, 2019.
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