ISLAMABAD: The government plans to increase salaries and allowances of the capital police to bring them on par with their counterparts in Punjab.

This was stated by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday while chairing a meeting held to discuss measures aimed at enhancing operational capacity of the Islamabad police and Frontier Constabulary (FC).

The meeting also decided to pay Rs1 billion arrears of Shuhada Package to Islamabad police immediately.

The meeting further decided to provide more financial, technical resources and legal support to capital police and FC for maintaining law and order.

The Islamabad Safe City Authority will also be modernised in line with Safe City Authority Lahore for foolproof security of the capital.

Besides, the decision to increase the number of Safe City cameras by 100pc was also made in the meeting.

Officers of the capital police told Dawn that the function of Safe City Authority was to help the police to curb crime and maintain law and order.

An official of the capital police said Safe City could play its role in prevention of crime but it could not come up to the expectation.

The Safe City Project was approved in 2009 and since then the capital has expanded and its population has increased.

At present, 1,905 cameras have been installed on different roads, highways, important and sensitive installations and markets but it covered only 33pc area of the capital, the official said.

The majority of the cameras do not have night vision devices. In 2021, the then IGP Qazi Jamilur Rehman made a request to the interior ministry to increase the number of CCTV cameras and manpower for the Safe City Project and sought an additional 4,000 cameras for the city.

IGP Rehman in 2021 also got six smart cars attached with the Safe City and requested for eight more vehicles for the same purpose.

Besides, the Eagle Squad of the capital police was also made part of the project.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2022