CCTV cameras for Safe City Project arriving soon, CM told

The first shipment containing CCTV cameras for the Karachi Safe City Project will be dispatched from China in the last week of June.

This was stated at a meeting on law and order chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday at the CM House. The meeting was also told that poles with a complete solar solution for installing the cameras would also be arriving soon.

The meeting review progress in the Safe City Project, and operations against dacoits in the riverine area and street criminals in Karachi.

Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Memon, Home Minister Ziaul Hassan Lanjar, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Principal Secretary to CM Agha Wasif, Home Secretary Iqbal Memon, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ghulam Nabi Memon, Law Secretary Ali Ahmad Baloch, Excise Secretary Saleem Rajput and CTD DIG Asif Aijaz Shaikh attended the meeting.

To a question, the CM was told that 30 per cent of the networking equipment would reach Karachi by June 26 and the remaining 70 per cent would be shipped from China on June 30, 2024.

The CM said police had started patrolling in Karachi to curb street crime, but it must be intensified further. Intelligence-based operations against the street criminals and drug mafia needed to be strengthened, he added.

He directed the home and law minister to prosecute street criminals properly. “I want them languishing in the jails and making their examples,” he said and directed IGP Memon to make a list of all the street criminals and share it with other agencies and all the police stations so that they could be arrested.

The police chief said street crime had been brought down but it needed to be controlled further.

The CM was informed that experienced SSPs had been posted to Shikarpur, Ghotki and Kashmore districts to enhance effectiveness of the anti-dacoit operations in the Kutcha area.

Around 200 Rapid Response Force personnel had been deployed in Shikarpur, Ghotki and Kashmore for the operation. The Sindh police and Rangers had been conducting intelligence-based operations in the riverine area, the meeting was told.

The CM directed the IGP to conduct special training of the policemen participating in the operation. To this, the IGP said that training of the policemen had been started.

The home minister informed the CM that in order to combat criminals in the Kutcha area and provide aerial support to the troops engaged in the operation, the police had procured 14 drones.

Lanjar requested the CM to approve procurement of more drones for the police. The CM approved the procurement of 20 more drones from Wah Industries.

He said he had already approved Rs2.8 billion to construct regional complexes for the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur and Larkana. He directed the IGP to speed up work on the construction of the buildings.