Cost of impunity: Illegal token system emerges as the biggest road hazard

Bribery racket, corruption rampant in traffic police department.

KARACHI:

Stand at a busy junction for a few minutes and you are likely to observe overloaded buses and trucks, puffing thick black wisps of smoke speedily making their way down the road, forcing the other vehicles to swerve out of their path. These vehicles, which should have been scrapped a good few years ago, are able to ply on the roads unchecked, with the blessings of the very people who are responsible to keep them in check. 

This is the ‘token’ or ‘monthly bribe’ system operated by the traffic - the very reason for the impunity that these ‘unfit’ vehicles enjoy. The system not only allows these vehicles to ply on the roads unrestrained, but also ensures that the traffic personnel look the other way when they drive around recklessly. What is all the more alarming is that many of these drivers of commercial vehicles do not even have route permits, driving licences or any proper documentation for the vehicles.

The system is one of the major causes of the large number of accidents in the city. According to the Sindh traffic police department’s data for the year 2013, 315 people were killed and another 256 seriously injured in road accidents. Of these, 215 people were killed in accidents involving commercial vehicles ranging from trucks, dumper trucks and buses to minibuses, coaches, water tankers and trailers.

The owners or operators of these commercial vehicles pay a monthly sum as bribe to each traffic police check post that falls on their route. The department’s lower-ranking personnel, from section officers (SO) to constables are largely involved in the token system.

A traffic police officer, seeking anonymity, told The Express Tribune that each check-post extracts a fixed sum as bribe every month and issues tokens which serve as symbols of impunity from checking in that particular check post’s jurisdiction.

These tokens bear the signatures of the check post in-charge or the SO or even the constable. They may also bear various symbols such as the bat, hockey stick or even pictures of animals. The price of these tokens range from Rs100 per month at each check post to Rs2,000, depending on the size of the vehicle.

“I make sure to submit the monthly payments to the 26 check posts that fall on the routes of my vehicles before the beginning of each month,” a supervisor of bus stand told The Express Tribune. He added that he pays Rs45,000 in bribe each month.

While the drivers and vehicles’ owners justify the payment of bribes by claiming it is to protect themselves from unnecessary harassment, the traffic police personnel have a different story to tell. “It is very easy to criticise the traffic police. How about the time when we stop an influential person for violating the traffic rules and our superiors suspend us for trying to implement the law?” said an aged traffic police constable who was on duty at Punjab Chowrangi. “No one comes to our aid at that time,” he lamented. “I used to be a strict policeman when I initially started out as a traffic police officer. After getting suspended numerous times, I learnt to look the other way.” What is ironic is that each time the issue is raised by the media, the traffic police high-ups jump into action and suspend a few officers and constables who are caught taking bribes. The situation, however, returns to normalcy after a few days.

Traffic DIG, Arif Hanif, when asked about the issue, told The Express Tribune that the department issues regular instructions to the officers and takes action against the personnel if found involved in such practices. “We have suspended a number of personnel on receiving complaints. We have a 12-member vigilance team who investigate the complaint and act accordingly,” he explained.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2014.