In the offing: Punjab to follow Centre’s lead on PTI rally
Chief Minister (CM) Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the government would follow the federal government’s guidelines regarding the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) rally on November 30.
He was chairing a meeting along with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali to review the law and order situation.
Sharif said protection of life and property of citizens is the government’s responsibility. He said the government would allow no one to take law into their hands.
Traffic reforms
Separately, the chief minister said a comprehensive transport network symbolised a civilised society. He stressed the importance of ensuring the smooth flow of traffic province-wide. Sharif was chairing a meeting to review various proposals regarding traffic reform and management in the Punjab.
According to details, Sharif has assented to initiating province-wide traffic reforms in this regard. Officials said a proposal regarding this had been presented to him by the Chief Minister’s Special Monitoring Unit (SMU) in August. They said the chief minister had constituted a committee under Special Assistant to Chief Minister Rana Maqbool Ahmed after the presentation. The committee has been tasked to finalise recommendations regarding reforms with the assistance of the unit.
Officials said the recommendations had been presented to Sharif on Tuesday. They said these included developing a coordination mechanism between the Excise and Taxation Department and the traffic police, the formulation of a camera-integrated challan system, devising a system of citizen policing and revamping the process of obtaining a driving licence in the Punjab.
Salman Sufi of the SMU said the reforms had been proposed in line with the CM’s commitment to ensure road safety and improve traffic management. He said the reforms would send a tough message to those who routinely violated rules and regulations and would ensure a safe and stress-free driving experience for law abiding citizens.
Sufi said the process of obtaining a licence would be revamped first by establishing testing centres across the Punjab to ensure that only people fit to drive get licences. He said aspiring drivers would be subjected to various tests before being provided with licences. Sufi said the chief minister was presented a proposal for driving centres across metropolitan areas in the Punjab.
The establishment of a U-report citizen policing system that would enable the people to report those guilty of flouting rules and regulations is also in the offing. The plan envisages the creation of a website where citizens could upload complaints with information about themselves to ensure that those guilty of flouting the law were not let-off.
Data from the Excise and Taxation Department will also be merged under one of the proposed reforms. Select traffic wardens would also be provided with high-power cameras to picture the registration numbers of those flouting the law. Traffic police would be able to retrieve their details from the Excise and Taxation Department records that they would be able to access in the android phones that would be made available to them. This provision would also enable them to directly send challans to the residences of culprits. Outstanding fines would be collected with the toll tax if owners fail to pay in time.
Sufi said the initiative was being taken to raise public awareness regarding the importance of observing traffic rules and regulations.
He said the proposed reforms would be implemented scientifically.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 26th, 2014.
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"Sharif said protection of life and property of citizens is the government’s responsibility. He said the government would allow no one to take law into their hands."
Gullu Butt smashes private cars. Christian couple killed by violent mob. etc etc. Hypocrisy to the limit.