KARACHI: After receiving scores of complaints from people, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has ordered the traffic police not to register first information reports against and arrest violators of the one-way traffic rule, officials said on Friday.

“This order does not mean that no action should be taken against the ones who violate such traffic rules, but, the traffic police have been asked to fine the violators as they did in the past instead of arresting them and get FIRs registered against them,” said Murtaza Wahab, Sindh government spokesperson and adviser to the chief minister on law.

A spokesperson at Chief Minister House corroborated it by saying that the CM’s complaint cell had received numerous complaints from citizens in which they had complained against the traffic police for taking extreme measures against youngsters, who were found breaking one-way rule on various city streets, instead of fining them for such violations.

Barrister Wahab told reporters that the provincial home ministry and the Sindh government were not taken into confidence when the traffic police went on to employ the measure to discourage people from violating one-way traffic rules.

The officials said the traffic police were registering such cases and making arrests for more than a week now.

Mr Wahab said: “The Sindh chief minister is very concerned about the issue and he is worried about the citizens [whose children have been arrested]”.

He said he had discussed the issue with the additional IG traffic, where the latter was asked “no FIR should be registered and no arrests be made on such violations”.

He also requested citizens to obey the traffic laws and discourage themselves and others from violating the laws.

He added citizens should also keep their legal documents with themselves while driving.

However, he added, “there would be no arrests on this issue [violating one-way traffic] in future”.

Asad assures Murad of federal govt’s support

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Friday assured Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah of the federal government’s full support and cooperation for early completion of development projects of the province, says APP.

The federal minister was speaking to the Sindh CM here at his office in Islamabad.

Issues related to various development projects, including the Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme (K-IV), Karachi Circular Railway, S-III, Hyderabad university/institute and Jamshoro-Sehwan Road were discussed during the meeting.

Mr Umar said that there would be no politics on development issues. He said that the federal government was keen to complete the federally financed projects in Sindh and regular meetings of Sindh Infrastructure Development Company (SIDCL) board were being held to fast-track the implementation of such projects.

He said that the federal government would also extend full support to Sindh for early completion of jointly financed projects like the K-IV water supply scheme.

He said that KCR was an important project and he had directed the Planning Commission and Economic Affairs Division to expedite the work to finalise implementation modality for the scheme.

The chief minister reciprocated the sentiments saying that the provincial government would extend full cooperation to the federal government and any pending issues would be resolved through mutual consultation.

He said that certain projects with joint financing of the federal and provincial governments needed to be expedited due to their significance for the people.

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2020