Karachi traffic police have reversed an earlier policy and decided to redeploy officers on major roads and intersections with authority to issue on-the-spot fines, citing a surge in motorists concealing or removing vehicle registration number plates to evade camera detection.
Traffic police chief DIG Peer Muhammad Shah announced the decision during an interactive session at the Karachi edition of the 18th Annual CSR Summit and Awards 2026, organized by the National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH).
DIG Shah said the department had withdrawn on-the-spot fining powers a year earlier after public complaints about harassment and extortion at busy intersections.
He said the move aimed to ease public hardship, although the camera-based enforcement system currently covers only 10 percent of the city, leaving the remaining 90 percent reliant on conventional enforcement.
He said the policy created unintended gaps that violators exploited, particularly motorcyclists who tamper with number plates by blackening, folding, taping, or removing them to avoid identification.
DIG Shah said the department has decided to redeploy personnel, adding that vehicles with unreadable or missing number plates will face immediate fines to prevent repeated violations.
He said nearly 70 percent of violations now involve vehicles with unreadable number plates, while the remaining 30 percent relate to vehicles whose owners have not provided accurate residential details to the excise department, which hinders delivery of e-challans.
He said authorities have identified around 60 key routes in Karachi as hotspots for one-way violations and completed a detailed study, with plans to install advanced cameras capable of automatically detecting such offenses.
DIG Shah said surveillance cameras on Sharea Faisal will be upgraded to detect heavy vehicles using fast lanes and motorists using mobile phones while driving.
He said the camera-based enforcement system has been extended to Sukkur and Umerkot, with plans to expand it to other major urban centers.
Addressing concerns over Ajrak-designed security number plates, he advised motorists awaiting issuance to carry proof of application and said they may temporarily obtain plates of the same design from the open market.
Policing back in business, lost may opportunities during the break and now financially broke a new idea in the brain child of deputy.
Challan k paison se hee road bana do.
Money making means open to bribery. Nothing changes.
Opening the door of bribery for their livelihood…