RAWALPINDI: The city traffic police are grappling with a severe manpower shortage to regulate the movement of over half a million vehicles in about 12 hours a day with only 860 wardens.

At their launch in 2007, the sanctioned strength of the wardens was 1,320 for the Rawalpindi city alone. However, now there are only 860 wardens to regulate the traffic across the district, including other tehsils of Rawalpindi.

Of the total sanctioned posts, 269 personnel left the department, 116 are working in offices, 70 wardens were sent to Lahore to assist the police in the orange train project there. Besides, 10 wardens were sent to Gujranwala and five to Sialkot on a special duty.

Chaudhry Yousuf Shahid, the acting city traffic officer (CTO), told Dawn that the available strength was insufficient to regulate traffic as there was a need of at least 5,000 wardens and a well-planned infrastructure to ensure smooth traffic.

He said there were six sanctioned posts of deputy superintendents and 100 posts of inspectors but the traffic police have been working with only two DSPs and 25 inspectors.

The CTO said 100 wardens were deployed in Murree and 40 others were working on VVIP duties. The number of wardens further reduced in the Rawalpindi city in the winter as more personnel were sent to Murree to regulate the influx of vehicles during snowfall there.

He said the traffic department was not only facing the crisis of manpower but also lacked facilities such as police lines, housing and lodging and a mess for the wardens.

“Even in such circumstances, the wardens have been doing their best to regulate traffic on roads occupied with encroachments,” Mr Shahid said. “The increasing number of vehicles and a lack of parking spaces are also adding to the problems,” he added.

The CTO said 849,249 vehicles, including 635,000 motorcycles, were registered with the Excise and Taxation Department.

According to a fresh survey, 52,000 vehicles crossed Faizabad into Islamabad and 48,000 vehicles entered Rawalpindi from Faizabad in 12 hours daily. Almost the same number of vehicles crossed Mareer and Katchery Chowk chowks.

The CTO said in addition to the required strength and other facilities, the traffic police needed a proper infrastructure, removal of encroachments from roads and the construction of parking plazas to overcome the issue of gridlocks on a long-term basis.

The regional police officer (RPO) recently issued a statement to resolve the traffic issue. He had sought suggestions from the traffic police department to resolve the traffic problems faced by the citizens. However, so far the initiative seems to be just an eyewash.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2016