Lack of staff undermines ITP efficiency: SSP

Islamabad : Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Furukh Rashid Sunday underlining the need to improve strength of Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) said the dearth of officials was undermining the efficiency with traffic problems worsening with each passing day.

“The traffic flow has increased almost seven times in 13 years and the staff’s strength gradually decreases from 685 to 628 due to the retirement of some officials,” he said in an interview with this agency.

The ITP, on its inception in 2005 with 685 officials, was mandated to control 125,000 registered vehicles of the capital besides those coming from different cities.

Now, the city exclusively owns some 900,000 vehicles and also bears the burden of those coming from other parts of the country.

The situation, he said, requires urgent reinforcement of the ITP.

Farrukh said over 2,000 traffic wardens at some 506 points of the federal capital were required to handle daily traffic business while ITP could only manage to cover some 286 spots around the clock in two shifts and 89 points partially.

“Some 131 spots mostly in rural areas go unattended, due to shortage of staff,” he added.

Islamabad Expressway’s both sides, Tarnol, Bhara Kahu, Golra and some sectors of the Capital including G-11, E-7, E-8, E-11 were among the areas where the ITP deployment remained off and on.

At least six sergeants, the SSP said, were required to be deployed at a big crossing junction while four at a small one.

“Currently, the ratio is four and one respectively,” he added.

The ITP’s another official regretted that the department was not getting required budget and professionals’ strength despite contributing Rs 3 million annually to the national exchequer.

Over two million was being generated from ticketing while one million in form of license fees on monthly basis, he added.

Highlighting the ITP’s controlled management with limited resources, the official said “the department does not have even a single crane to remove a damaged vehicle from the road in case it requires emergency clearance.” “We are forced to use out-dated fork lifters for the purpose,” he regretted.

Farrukh said 36 patrolling cars, 70 bikes and six obsolete lifters were the entire support to cover over 906 square kilometre area. “There was no dedicated piece of land for ITP and currently it was running its affairs in a temporary office, designated for the green belt that can be removed anytime," he said.

Answering to a query, the official said, that VVIP movements and parking issues in the capital markets were also a reason behind the ITP''s officials non-presence at some major stops.

He also termed the amount of fine on traffic violations inadequate, saying it was not helping to improve behavioural changes in violators to respect rules.

He said a recent proposal to review the amount of fine tickets was sent to the quarters concerned, requesting to increase the maximum penalty to Rs5,000 to reign motorists who commit absolute violations deliberately.

The SSP claimed that road accidents were taking more lives than natural disasters, urging the authorities concerned to bring reforms in traffic laws and ensure the provision of required staff to handle the affairs.