In doldrums: Plan to monitor traffic warden movement languishing for weeks

The system was slated to start functioning on June 30

LAHORE:

City traffic police’s plan to start using the global positing system (GPS) to monitor movement of wardens has been languishing due to technical glitches and departmental issues for over two months, The Express Tribune has learnt.

CTO Tayyab Hafeez Cheema had announced the formulation of a plan to monitor warden movements in a bid to ensure their presence at assigned spots. Cheema had said that the Field Force Management System would begin functioning on June 30. An agreement had been inked in this regard with Mobilink and 200 mobile phones equipped with SIMS were distributed among wardens deployed across thoroughfares in the city. However, the CTP was not able to adequately monitor warden movements due to the inability of the cellular company to share the precise location of wardens with the force.



“Currently we are only getting tower-based information regarding warden movements,” Cheema told The Express Tribune. He said the problem with such information was that it failed to distinguish between positions of various wardens deployed in the vicinity of a said area at different locations. “There are spots in the city where over 20 wardens are regularly deployed on particular points,” Cheema said. He said their location revealed a single locale when monitored. “I want to access their precise location in real-time,” Cheema said.

The CTO said meetings would be held with Mobilink officials next week in a bid to overcome this challenge. Cheema said the officials would be asked to provide the force with precise locations of wardens. He said the company had been demanding additional charges for tracking warden locations within a 10-metre radius per mobile phone. Cheema said the system would begin functioning as soon as the negotiations had concluded.

He said the force had procured 3,000 mobile phones that would be distributed among wardens following the successful completion of the initiative’s first phase. The CTO said action would be taken with the assistance of the system against those shirking from their duties.

On the other hand, scores of wardens who have been equipped with the mobile phones either feigned ignorance regarding the purpose of the exercise or have intentionally turned their devices off to evade the possibility of having their locations tracked by seniors.  A warden speaking to The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity said he had not been using a SIM provided to him to avoid having his location tracked. “This constitutes a breach of privacy. I will not become a party to this,” he said.

“What do our seniors want from us? We were earlier directed to desist from carrying mobile phones. Now we are being forced to do exactly the opposite,” another warden mused while referring to a circular issued by the force on December 1, 2014 which regulated the use of mobile phones by officials.

Cheema said all efforts would be made to ensure that wardens switched their phones on as soon as the shortcomings in the systems had been remedied. He said such orders had been issued by his office from time to time to improve performance standards. Cheema said the force would launch a mobile application to provide information regarding traffic levels after the system had started functioning effectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2015.