Karachi’s citizens are concerned about the recent alleged malpractice of the Sindh Traffic Police that involves fleecing motorists through unjustified fines.
Traffic wardens are imposing challans on unwarranted grounds to meet the department’s monthly targets, according to a media report. Additionally, around 27,000 challans are issued every month, through which about Rs. 65 million is being collected.
The report highlighted that the daily number of challans is increasing despite a limited number of policemen in the department. The number of personnel in the city is 6,782, of which 89 are section officers.
As per the details, a section officer has to meet a target of almost 40 challans on a daily basis, and more than 2.73 million challans have been issued so far this year. A daily estimate shows that more than 9,000 challans are being issued every day, which allows more than Rs. 214,000 worth of departmental revenue to be generated on a daily basis.
The report also disclosed that 30 percent of the challan money goes to the traffic police and 70 percent goes to the provincial exchequer. This is why the traffic police impose heavy fines for ‘traffic rule violations’ instead of improving the traffic system; and in doing so, are feeding off of a broken system.