KARACHI, July 12: The participants of English Communication Course and other speakers at a hard talk on traffic problems in Karachi, on Friday, were unanimous on the idea that the city needs a comprehensive transport policy that includes revival of Karachi Circular Railway and projects like northern and southern bypass to divert heavy vehicles from main commuter lines.
The talk with DIG Highways and Traffic Saud Ahmed Mirza was organized by the National Institute of Public Administration at its auditorium in Karachi.
The talk was conducted for participants of the first specialized course in teaching development skills for newly-appointed lecturers at various undergraduate colleges of Sindh.
The session was part of English communication course. The idea was to impart knowledge about the traffic reforms and problems faced by the commuters in the city.
The participants stressed that a code of conduct be enforced for the traffic officers as well as the public transport drivers.
DIG Traffic told the participants that a ticketing system for violation of traffic laws had been introduced and, so far, about 68 million have been realized in the current fiscal year in this respect.
The traffic department had also meetings with National Bank to reduce the service charges on challan form from Rs20 to Rs12.
He informed that a new website will be launched by the traffic department on Aug 14 this year with all the related information. He made a detailed presentation on traffic management in Karachi, the 12th largest city of world where only road transport is available to commuters.
The participants asked critical questions to the DIG, including the problems faced by the female commuters, increasing number of vehicle theft and different strategies used by traffic department of various big cities of the world to manage the increasing traffic on road.
The DIG while replying to queries said that with limited work-force on the field, they have been able to manage the traffic problems of Karachi in the best interest of commuters.
The discussion was concluded by Niaz Ahmed Siddiqui, Chief Instructor and former AIGP Sindh.—PPI/APP
