GUJRAT: The Ministry of Communications headed by Murad Saeed remained unmoved despite multiple requests by the Punjab police chief during the last few months to deploy the National Highway and Motorway Police (NH&MP) for traffic management along the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway (LSM-M11).

Through a letter written to the ministry on July 28, former IGP Shoaib Dastgir offered to spare 100 personnel from the Punjab Highway Patrol (PHP) who could be deployed after two weeks training from the NH&MP. The letter also suggested deployment of at least 20 officials from the NH&MP.

The Punjab police also sought logistical support for the operations along the 91-km-long LSM for which provision of vehicles and fuel, modern speed checking equipment, fine collection units for each beat and provision of residential accommodation for manpower at Muridke and Sahuwala.

It is learnt that these proposals were sent after the ministry of communications reportedly cited shortage of police staff and other resources for an immediate deployment of NH&MP. However, there was no response to these proposals by the ministry.

Earlier, the former Punjab IGP had also discussed the matter with the NH&MP IG in order to explore the way forward for deployment on M-11.

The proposal to deploy the PHP along the LSM-M11 as a stopgap arrangement till the deployment of NH&MP had been initiated by the Gujranwala Regional Police Officer Riaz Nazeer Gara who wrote a letter to the Punjab IGP around four months ago, citing severe security lapses along the said route.

Sadly, the proposal was executed after the tragic incident of gang rape and public outrage.

Talking to Geo news, special assistant to prime minister Shahzad Akbar said the government would look into the matter why the motorway was opened without security cover.

The PHP was deployed along the LSM by the Punjab police on Friday as a temporary arrangement. Additional Inspector General of PHP Zafar Iqbal and Deputy Inspector General PHP Hamayun Tarrar also visited the motorway on Friday and inspected various spots along the route.

There is no service or rest area, petrol stations and other such facilities available along the M-11 where reckless driving is common in the absence of any check or fine. Similarly, some of the motorists who had recently commuted along the Lahore-Multan-Sukkur section of the motorway have also reported non-availability of essential facilities along the 800-km-long route where the service areas were in extremely poor condition and petrol stations were hard to find.

On the other hand, the National Highways Authority (NHA) has consistently been increasing toll, fine on traffic rules violations on motorways. There are reports that NH&MP patrolling has been reduced on the Lahore-Islamabad motorway.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2020