Controlling the chaos: Wardens stepping in to untangle city’s traffic

Abbottabad, Swat next in line to benefit from the new force, technology

PESHAWAR:

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak inaugurated the first-of-its-kind traffic warden service in the city on Thursday in order to overcome the chaotic situation on some of the roads. The newly-trained wardens have already taken over parts of the city - from Hayatabad to the K-P Assembly.

Khattak, while speaking on the occasion, said the current population of Peshawar stood at 7.1 million people. “Many of these are displaced people and this has added to the burden on the traffic system, resulting in frequent jams.”

The CM added, “There are around 1,000 Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) trucks visiting the city daily in addition to the 800,000 vehicles on the city’s roads.” He added Peshawar was the first ever city to get the warden system in phases.

Shiny new systems

Earlier in January, the police had stated the new system would include a mobile traffic workshop unit, an accident recovery unit and an awareness unit. An official handout had said the manual system of issuing challans would be replaced by an automated one, with the aim to ensure transparency.

“After Peshawar, Abbottabad and Swat will also get the service,” said Khattak, adding the PTI government wanted to bring about positive change to society. “However, whenever we stress on the elimination of corruption, certain people take to the streets and protest by blocking roads.”

Khattak said the city’s traffic police were notorious for their corruption in the past, but authorities were trying to end this phenomenon. He claimed political interference had been eliminated from the police.

Streamlining traffic

Also speaking on the occasion, IGP Nasir Khan Durrani said traffic engineering was missing from the city and this was evident from the fact that plazas were constructed without any parking lots in their basements.

“We have identified around 50 such plazas where there are no car parks—a vital facility,” he said, adding good roads were also essential to maintain the flow of traffic in the city.

SSP Traffic Wahid Mehmood briefed participants about the new service which will be implemented in three phases over six months.

He said the city faced numerous challenges such as dozens of check posts, concrete blocks and barriers placed along the roads for security measures. The SSP said a new system had been adopted which would immediately terminate the licences of drivers with 20 violations.

Mehmood said the police used its own resources to launch the service and another three to four months were required to equip the new wardens with the latest vehicles and equipment due to a delay in budget.

All geared up

Earlier in the day, Rescue 1122 conducted a training session for 206 newly-recruited traffic wardens at their headquarters in Peshawar.

The session was aimed at training traffic wardens in tackling emergency situations.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmad Faizi said such sessions were initiated to help officials to deal with untoward situations.

“We also want to train citizens as well,” he said. “Our aim is to impart first-aid techniques, training in firefighting and some useful tips on what to do in the event of a road accident or a bomb blast.”

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Rescue 1122 Director General Asad Ali said over a 1,000 officials had been trained so far. According to Ali, similar sessions will be held at educational institutes and government and private organisations. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2015.