Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) has formally asked the Ministry of Information for an approval to recruit more than 1,500 personnel.
A letter has been written to the ministry in this regard, in which the department says that they are facing a shortage of staff which is undermining its efficiency to ensure smooth flow of traffic in the federal capital.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Farrukh Rashid told the state-owned news agency that the department has requested for an approval to increase in its workforce from 628 to over 2,100.
He said the fresh recruitments were necessary to guard the unmanned intersections of the capital.
Expressing his optimism, he said that the PC-I would get early approval from the authorities concerned, adding that the competent authority had assured to revamp ITP for restoring it to the exemplary force it once was a decade ago.
He said he has previously expressed his concerns about the paucity of staff before the National Assembly and the Senate multiple times.
Mr. Farrukh said the department, when inaugurated in 2005, was equipped with modern technology and was smoothly controlling the traffic flow of the city.
But with the passage of time, the capital territory has seen exponential growth in population and with no increase in ITP’s strength of 685, its performance had declined.
Farrukh Rashid maintained that his department requires more than 2,000 traffic personnel to control the daily load of traffic at 506 points across the city.
“With the current strength, we manage over 286 spots round the clock in two 12-hour-long shifts while 89 points are regulated partially.”
Due to the shortage of staff, some 131 spots, mostly in the rural areas of the city, go unattended, he added.
Apropos the above request of the Traffic Police Head of Islamabad, I as a law abiding resident of Islamabad I strongly appose to hire even a single additional traffic police officer for the Islamabad Traffic Police. The reason to oppose is to first request the respected Traffic Police Head of Islamabad to make the existing force of 628 traffic police personnel effective and to be able to justify the uniform they wear by displaying their clear intentions of serving the Pakistan’s Traffic Police Department and by performing their duty to at least 25% of their professional requirement and capability.
The Islamabad traffic system by all means is one of the worst in the world as I posses international drivers license and drive in many countries on both sides of driving rules so exactly know where our weaknesses lie. There does not exist any traffic policing in the Federal Capital for years which solely and purely runs on public’s behest and every aspect of the traffic including accidents are handled managed and negotiated by the parties involved with the entire help of the by passers, onlookers gathered on the site of the accident. Even if a Traffic Police Official arrives at the scene by chance, would be totally in effective, incompetent and would offer negligible assistance or help, what to talk of establishing who was at fault and who needs to be given a relief and would soon start tilting towards the side in contact with the higher ranks of the police or the government to finally then support that side and start to harass the commoner or a general public member like myself.
Simple traffic disciplines required in the Federal Capital like the correct parking, which side of the lane to drive, which lane to use to overtake, not to block the flow of traffic while parking, which do not require IMF or World Bank’s assistance and support to implement are completely devoid of our trafficking system in fact, the police officials are seen more violating such rules in uniform. Islamabad is the only city in the world I have seen where you will see a traffic police car or a traffic constable motorcycle being driven on the wrong side of the road thus setting the examples for the public to follow the same very confidently.
The Islamabad Traffic policing system requires more than man power, police officials with the will and determination and above all the vision to make Islamabad Traffic the model traffic system of the world. This is not a rocket science but only requires to select some smart and intelligent officers from the existing Police Service of Pakistan who could lead the entire Islamabad force of 628 police personnel as a role model to follow who would not be bogged down by calls of senior police or military officers asking them to let go of drivers committing violations. Instead of trying to manage the traffic while sitting in their offices, they need to come out on the roads to stand beside their colleagues to guide the untrained, less educated and less privileged constables on how to check, what to check, when to check the violations.
I would be more than happy to offer my services for 2-3 hours every day on voluntary basis as a consultant to the Islamabad Traffic Police to stand on the roads beside the traffic police constables and help them judge correctly and to guide them on how to talk and tackle the unaware and violating rules drivers.
Amer Chughtai – Islamabad