ISLAMABAD: An amount of Rs68.7 million was given to the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) as a cash reward – equal to 35pc of the fine they imposed on motorists during 2017-18.

However, the office of the inspector general of police (IGP) kept 15pc of this amount.

During the financial year 2017-18, the ITP issued tickets worth Rs196.31 million, according to details collected from the offices of the IGP and ITP.

The amount given to the ITP was distributed among its 774 officers and officials.

A sum of Rs6.87m was taken by the IGP office in the name of distribution among volunteers who are hired during awareness campaigns by the ITP. Besides, Rs3.43m were kept for separate distribution amongst the ITP officials on the recommendation of the SSP traffic.

Officials said such a huge amount was never set aside for distribution among volunteers as there were no volunteers who could fulfil the criteria.

The remaining amount of Rs54.96 was divided into two for payment to the ticketing and non-ticketing staff of the ITP.

The ITP has 322 ticketing and 443 non-ticketing staff. There is a point system for distribution of the cash reward such as attendance, challans and commendation certificates.

The officers got Rs1,282 per point while the ticketing and non-ticketing staff members were paid Rs223 and Rs188 per point, respectively.

However, SSP traffic Farrukh Rasheed was not paid a single penny on the ground that his tenure in the force during the financial year 2017-2018 was less than the mandatory 90 days.

Some officials in the ITP said the point system made for distribution of the reward should be the same. There is a huge difference between officials who worked in the field and the gazetted officers who sit in their offices, they added.

Besides, the amount kept by the IGP office should also be distributed among the ITP staff, adding when the policy was made there was no mention of allocating 15pc of the amount to the IGP office.

IGP Mohammad Amir Zulfiqar Khan was not available for comments.

A text message sent to him seeking details about the amount also remained unanswered.

When contacted, police spokesperson SP Sumera Azam said the amount was distributed under supervision of the DIG headquarters. There is no complication in this head and all amount has been distributed fairly among the traffic staff, she added.

About the five per cent taken by the IGP office for distribution amongst the ITP officials, she said the share of the IGP office had also been distributed properly. Furthermore, the amount is distributed through cheques, not in cash.

But she did clarify the amount taken by the IGP office in the name of volunteers.

She also failed to reply a question as to how much of the amount taken by the IGP office under the two heads had been spent.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2019