The authorities have decided to link the long-delayed Rawalpindi Safe City project to the garrison city’s traffic management system, further delaying the start of work on the project of public importance.
The Safe City project, conceived almost six years back for the surveillance and keeping a vigilant eye on criminal activities in the garrison city, is yet to see the light of day.
According to sources, the new change further delayed the start of work on the project until January 2024. The project was formally approved by the caretaker Punjab government in August 2023. Under the project, high-tech night vision cameras were to be installed at more than 1,000 locations in Rawalpindi to control crime and other illegal activities.
Sources told The Express Tribune that the Punjab Safe City Authority has decided to make further changes in the Rawalpindi Safe City project and it will no longer be used only to prevent street crime and control law and order situation. “The new change will link the project to the city’s traffic management system. With this initiative, e-challans will be sent to those who violate traffic rules on major roads of Rawalpindi,” they said.
The Sources said that after the change, the positions of the cameras to be installed under Safe City will also be changed. More than 300 cameras will be installed for Rs10 billion.
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Additional cameras will be installed for traffic management at more than 50 important places in the city, including Murree Road, Mall Road, Peshawar Road, Rawal Road, Airport Road, Jhelum Road, Rashid Minhas Road, Kachehri Chowk, Syedpur Road, Pirwadhai Road, Dhok Syedan Road, Misrial Road, Chakra Road, Chauhar Chowk, Westridge, Scheme 3 Road, Gulistan Colony Road, High Court Road, Adiala Road, Chakri Road, 22 No Chungi and more than 50 other important locations.
With this change, cameras installed under the Safe City project will be used simultaneously for street crime prevention and traffic management. The cameras to be installed for traffic management will help in taking action against those who violate traffic rules as well as in identifying encroachments on the roads.
Under the traffic management system, e-challan tickets will be issued to those who violate the rules, which will be sent to the violators’ residences by post.
The sources said the Punjab government has approved Rs10 billion for the cost of the project. All the cameras to be installed under the Safe City project will be linked with the CPO complex through fibre optic. The building of the CPO complex is 50 per cent complete where a modern control room will be set up and all cameras will be given under the command of Lahore Safe City Authority. However, the new change will further delay the start of work on the project.
The Punjab IT Board is responsible for installing all the cameras. The project will be completed in one year and will be fully functional in 2025.
The commissioner’s office was contacted to know the position regarding the new change in the project. A senior officer in the commissioner’s office who requested not to be named told this scribe that the work on the project will start in January 2024 and will be completed in a year. “All other aspects of the project have entered the final stage,” he claimed.
With the inclusion of a traffic management system in the Safe City project, the long-standing problem of traffic in Rawalpindi will be solved to a great extent and prompt action will be taken on violation of traffic rules.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2023.
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