Auditors have discovered massive irregularities in the collection of traffic fines during the past few years.
According to a report submitted to the parliament by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), the irregularities in fine collection by the National Highway and Motorway Police (NHMP) are worth over Rs 2 billion.
The Rs. 2 Billion Shortfall
Audit report shows that motorists plying the highways have been charged with fines of Rs. 19.704 billion over the past 19 years by the NHMP.
However, the National Highway Authority (NHA), which is responsible for collecting the fines, has only received Rs. 17.676 and is hence falling short on Rs. 2.029 billion.
The discrepancy in the imposed fines and the amount collected goes as back as the fiscal year 1997-98 and up to the year 2016-17.
The auditors expressed their amusement regarding the fact that no action was taken by the concerned authorities to stop the irregularity that had been on-going for years.
The report said:
Audit observed that the [NHMP] management did not conduct any inquiry to determine the reasons behind the pilferage of the large amounts of public money over the years.
AGP Recommends Immediate Inquiry
The AGP recommended that the massive irregularity must be looked into.
Audit recommends that a comprehensive inquiry may be conducted jointly by NHMP and NHA in order to bring to light the reasons of pilferage of fine money and people responsible for it.
According to the NHMP Road Safety Campaigns, Performance Reward Fund Rules 2007, NHMP would receive 50 per cent of the total fine deposited by violators after reconciliation by the NHA on a monthly basis.
Duty Of the Motorway Police
Motorway police has been working since 1997 to ensure traffic safety and rules on the country’s highways and motorways.
An example of the Motorway Police doing its job is a recent incident that occurred during Eid. The National Assembly Speaker, Ayaz Sadiq, was asked to pull over on the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway (M-2) near Khanqah Dogran for over-speeding.
He was then charged with a fine of Rs 1,250 for violation of traffic rules. However, the audit report confirms that all is not well since there might be some corrupt element operating among the ranks of honest motorway police officials.
Via Tribune
