ISLAMABAD: Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Syed Khursheed Shah on Tuesday criticised the government for delaying the appointment of 309 officials for the Safe City Project completed at a cost of over Rs12 billion.

He stated this after a briefing by IGP Islamabad Khalid Khattak. The IGP said the annual operating cost of the project was Rs559 million, adding there was shortage of manpower to run the project smoothly.

“Though the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has also deputed some staff, police officials can deal with the emergency and crime-related issues more appropriately. Currently, we have deputed 847 police officials but still there is a need to have more,” the IGP said.

“We moved a request for the creation of 309 posts for the Safe City Project in April, but so far it has not been approved. We will appreciate even if we are allowed to hire these employees in two phases,” he said.

PkMAP head Mahmood Khan Achakzai said it was unfortunate that the police officials were doing 12 hours duty.

IGP informs PAC there is shortage of manpower to run the project

“After a few hours, every person gets tired and cannot concentrate on their job. The duty hours of the police should be reduced to enhance their performance. Moreover, pick-and-drop facility should be provided to the officials,” he said.

Nadra Chairman Usman Mubeen said the project worth $124.97 million had been functioning in the capital, making it possible to check, trace and identify suspects.

“There are 1,700 cameras installed across the city. Moreover, 240 additional cameras along with flashlights have been installed to check number plates and speed of vehicles. The cameras are capable to automatically generate security alerts. They also have facial recognition,” he said.

“The cameras generate alerts even if no official is looking at the screen. Then they can start automatically tracking the suspect. In case of abandoned objects, the cameras can identify them and issue an alert. Moreover, the video summary of the past eight hours can be seen in just three minutes. They can identify the vehicle of certain colour besides showing how many places it had passed through in the past few days,” Mr Mubeen said.

However, Senator Azam Swati said the city cannot be made safe with just 2,000 cameras.

“There is a need to start public-private partnership to defeat terrorists. We should know that terrorists are smarter than the police. Moreover, the police department should be made independent just like the motorway police so that they can be able to reduce crime,” he said.

Sheikh Rohale Asghar said things had improved after completion of the Safe City Project.

“One cannot control terrorists by only fixing cameras so there is a need to involve the citizens in the effort. For example, the citizens should be advised to provide data about people living on rent to the police,” he said.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said: “We need to strengthen police checkposts and rotate duties of officials deployed there after every three months. Moreover, it should be ensured that the cameras of the Safe City Project remain functional because terrorists can get information about the non-functional cameras,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2017