RAWALPINDI: Doors of the city traffic police office were closed for hundreds of driving licence applicants due to the presence of the regional police officer (RPO) on the premises during a road safety seminar on Monday.

The applicants started reaching the traffic police office at Peshawar Road at about 8:30am. However, nobody was allowed to enter the premises as its entry gate was closed with policemen deployed outside.

“There is no working in the traffic office today; come tomorrow,” a police official told Mohammad Ilyas, an applicant.

He said it was his second visit to the traffic police office in seven days but despite being a working day he was not allowed to enter due to the presence of the RPO inside.

Another applicant, who had come from Taxila, said: “It would have been convenient for the applicants had the seminar been organised somewhere else or held on another day.”

When contacted, a spokesman for the traffic police told Dawn that over 100 to 150 applicants visited the office daily along with over 300 others seeking ‘learning permits’.

He said soon after the departure of the RPO, the working at the traffic office resumed.

But after addressing the participants of t he seminar, RPO Mohammad Wisal Fakhar Sultan Raja held a meeting with the senior city traffic officials.

He directed the traffic police officials to launch a crackdown against those plying vehicles without registration plates and underage drivers and impound their vehicles instead of imposing a fine.

The RPO also directed City Police Officer Israr Ahmed Khan Abbasi to hold meetings with all stakeholders to resolve the traffic issues, adding he wanted to see a smooth flow of traffic in the city and cantonment roads within two weeks.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2016