LAHORE, Sept 3: Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi says highways patrol posts are proving very effective to curb crime and promote a sense of security among the masses and will help achieve ‘Safe Punjab’ target.

Presiding over a meeting at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat here on Monday, Pervaiz Elahi said incidents of highway robberies, car-snatching and other crimes had been reduced by 70 per cent.

He said around 210 patrol posts throughout the province were playing the role of a help-line for the masses besides removing illegal encroachments and streamlining traffic.

He said the patrol posts system was delivering a lot due to effective management as a large number of proclaimed offenders and absconders had been arrested after exchange of information between operational police and patrolling police.

The staff deputed at these posts had been imparted modern training so that they could face any situation with confidence. First aid training had also been given to them to provide immediate relief to the victims of accidents, he said adding that the tracking system had been installed in their vehicles, which helped establish immediate contact with the control room.

The chief minister said the entire system of patrol posts was being computerised that would help monitor crime in respective areas of police posts as well as improve management and efficiency.

The chief minister said project of establishment of highways patrolling posts was a milestone towards achieving the objectives of a ‘Safe Punjab’ as it had helped control crime to a great extent and redress people’s grievances at the earliest.

The Project Management Unit was also playing an important role to improve performance of the patrolling posts and a total of 522 posts would be made operational in the next phase of this project, he added.