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KARACHI As the number of vehicles running on city roads keeps growing amid development of new roads and bridges, the traffic police's sanctioned strength has been at a standstill for the past many years.
The fewer than 4,000 personnel of the traffic police are supposed to control traffic at about 3,000 congestion-prone points within the metropolis.
A recent assessment by the police authorities with the assistance of a city government-backed institution led to the emergence of the fact that the total number of vehicles in the city touched the two-million mark by the first quarter of 2009.
The staggering increase in the number of vehicles is attributed to the financing facility offered by banks and leasing companies till a few months back.
'The number of vehicles will definitely keep growing, but not at the current rate,' said an official. 'But for the vehicles already on roads, the city relies on traffic police in the absence of high-tech facility. The lack of discipline and awareness of traffic regulations in the drivers, traffic constables remain a vital force to prevent traffic congestions or jams.'
He said the city's traffic police department had a sanctioned strength of 3,989 persons, but most of the time it operated with fewer than the approved number.
'With the city's unruly traffic, one can't deny the significance of the traffic police's presence on the roads,' said the official. 'The number of traffic policemen should increase and a recent proposal in this regard has already been moved by the CPO [Central Police Office] to the high-ups.'
Such concerns have also been echoed in comments by officials at the Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Centre at the Jinnah Postgraduate and Medical Centre, a public-private venture entrusted with the task of assessing the reasons behind the traffic accidents and suggesting remedies.
'Traffic policing has become a purely technology-backed operation across the world,' said Syed Ameer Hussain, the centre's programme manager. 'Since in our country we don't have such a system in place, the importance of the traffic police in controlling traffic cannot be overemphasised.'
He supported the proposal about an increase in the sanctioned strength of the tr affic police in Karachi, where more than 1,100 people died in road accidents during 2008, with an alarming increase of 33 per cent over 12 months.
Serious violations of traffic rules, mostly by commercial transport drivers, were cited as one of the several reasons behind the 2008 fatal accidents. The authorities confirmed that the proposal regarding the increase in the number of traffic policemen was under consideration and cited several other measures to enhance their performance.
'There is no other example in any part of the world where two million vehicles at 3,000 different points are controlled by a few hundred men,' said Traffic DIG Khurram Gulzar.' Apart from increasing the working strength, a project to get technological support is also instrumental in performing the job in a better way.'
He said a network of more than 70 surveillance cameras had been installed at selected traffic signals in different parts of the city to record traffic violations. The cameras would have the capability of focusing on the registration plate of vehicles and at some points it could also zoom in to identify the violators, added the DIG for traffic. 'So, many plans are under execution and near completion. But, at the same time, it is no secret that the department is well short of the required strength of policemen in line with the demand for a growing number of vehicles of all kinds,' he said.
