April 27, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1429

LAHORE, April 26: The traffic wardens recruited by the PML-Q government will not be sacked and instead given proper policing training to enforce traffic rules as well as combat street crime.

This indication has come from the quarters concerned of the new PML-N government in the province amidst fears being expressed by wardens themselves and also by former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi that the traffic system he so dearly introduced is going to be wrapped up.

"There is no proposal to wrap up the system, instead the training given to the wardens is being considered insufficient. We are going to improve the training to better equip wardens, physically as well as mentally, to enforce traffic rules and act in case of street crime," a senior government official told Dawn here on Saturday.

He said the traffic wardens were a part of the provincial police but they were not acting like them because of the lack of related training. They were just manning road crossings and issuing challan tickets to traffic rules violators, he added.

Because of lack of police training the traffic wardens in many cases fail to enforce traffic rules, especially when violators are rude or influential.

The official said many wardens were unable to perform duty under extreme weather conditions, and were found taking shelter under trees or signboards, watching traffic jams like silent spectators. Many a time they had been heard complaining that people did not listen to them, he added.

Secondly, he said, the traffic wardens did not know how to tackle street crime if it was committed in their presence.

Those working in the traffic wing previously belonged to the mainstream police department and despite being indecent and accused of corruption they would enforce rules and regulation during rush hours, he said. They were physically tough and would handle street crime or rude people because of their policing training, he added.

He said the present government did not want to abolish the system but intended to put in the things which it lacked.

The previous government introduced the wardens to modernise traffic management, initially in big cities, and to bring decency to roads. They were also welcomed by the official quarters as panacea for corruption which was rampant among the traffic police, he added.

However, the changes made in the original plan during the implementation irked many. For example initially it was proposed to recruit graduate constables but the then chief minister allegedly vetoed this proposal, and instead ordered the induction of sub-inspectors.

But since constables, ASIs and ASPs could only be directly recruited in police under the Police Order 2002, the quarters concerned declared the recruitment of sub-inspectors illegal.

But since the decision was to be implemented, the sub-inspectors were named as "wardens" for justifying their induction. They were also declared supporting staff for “avoiding” any clash with the police order. But this was done while ignoring that none of the actual supporting staff wore uniform and pips of rank the wardens were wearing.

The wardens continued to function under the traffic DIG without any rules and regulations or service structure till September last year.

The traffic wardens included many a women, majority of them posted in offices.

The mode of recruitment also invited criticism. Scores of wardens have been sacked for possessing fake degrees and domicile certificates, and many have left for greener pastures.

Finally, the home department introduced the rules and regulations and service structure for traffic wardens putting them under the command of the Lahore police in September last year.

The government spent millions of rupees on providing them new motorcycles, cars and pickups to modernise the system to regulate traffic. The plan also included provision of radars to check over speeding but they are yet to be installed.