SC suggests inducting more traffic police personnel

Orders strict enforcement of traffic rules, all unregistered vehicles to be impounded

KARACHI: The Supreme Court (SC) has directed the Karachi Police to induct and deploy more traffic police personnel in the city, especially in the upscale neighbourhood of Defence Housing Authority (DHA), to better manage the flow of traffic.

The direction came on Friday when a two-member bench, headed by Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, was hearing a petition regarding the traffic jams and mismanagement in the upscale vicinity.

As summoned in the previous hearing, the provincial and city police chiefs, commissioner and officials of the power utility, traffic management, taxation department and representatives of the public and quasi-military land institutions appeared before the bench to respond to the court's queries.

Initially, the case had been about the traffic nuisance on a main thoroughfare in DHA Phase IV. The petitioner had complained of non-functional traffic signals that caused frequent traffic jams on this road. As the case progressed, however, the matter became even bigger.

During the previous hearing, Traffic Police DIG Amir Sheikh had informed the court that there were merely 2,000 personnel to manage traffic across the mega city, of which 300 were deployed in DHA alone.

He had maintained that several requests were forwarded to the higher authorities for an increase in the strength of the force, but in vain.

When Sindh IG Ghulam Haider Jamali, accompanied by recently-appointed AIG, Mushtaq Mahar, appeared before the court on Thursday, he submitted that there were 3,827 personnel tasked to control the traffic flow in the city. For DHA only, he said, the department had allocated a contingent of 539 personnel. However, 139 posts lay vacant, he said.

The numbers reflected a stark difference between the statements of the two police high-ups. However, the top cop submitted that taking cognisance of the situation, the department was preparing for more inductions.

Justice Osmany inquired how much additional contingent the police chief thought would be enough to control the traffic. Jamali instantly replied 1,000. Visibly surprised, the judge asked whether it would be enough to control traffic in a bustling metropolis of 20 million. The cop nodded in the affirmative. The judge observed that he believed there should be a deployment of at least 10,000 traffic police personnel.

IG Jamali further told the court that his department was intending to open a vacancy for 6,000 to 8,000 police officers and constables.  He added that a summary regarding the matter was being prepared to be sent to the chief minister for approval.

The bench observed that recruitment was a time-taking procedure; the least that could be done at the moment was that the police should strictly ensure that traffic rules were being followed.

The bench then directed the police officer to impound the unregistered, fancy, foreign number-plated vehicles. A team of police and excise department should work together and register confiscated vehicles inside the police station. "No unregistered vehicle should be allowed to ply on the roads." The bench also ordered the seizure of noisy motorcycles that run without silencers, observing that having fun was not a sin, lest it annoys or harms others.

During the hearing, the representative of Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) submitted a plan to improve traffic management within its jurisdiction. The plan, with an approximate cost of around Rs50 million, includes the development of 10 intersections in the vicinity and installation of 40 new traffic signals.

The case also includes the development of an overhead bridge that will ensure a signal-free movement of traffic between Korangi and DHA. However, its construction is lingering on due to a dispute between the DHA, KMC and K-Electric.

The bench asked the authorities to conduct a joint-meeting to resolve their issues and come up with a plan to start the project. They have also been asked to submit a report regarding the project by Monday.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2015.