KARACHI, Feb 28: A worsening tug of war between the city government and the Sindh police has brought to a halt the transfer of traffic planning, management and systems of control to local authorities in line with the devolution of power programme. The law enforcement agency wants to keep the current system intact.

The city nazim had forwarded the Sindh governor a proposal regarding the issuance of an ordinance to transfer traffic control and management authority. However, senior officials and other sources in both the city government and the Sindh police said that the proposal met serious resistance from the Central Police Office and the situation was further complicated with unaddressed regulatory issues.

“The situation has become quite complex and there are few chances that the proposal will become reality in the near term,” said a source close to the developments over recent months. “The police authorities oppose the proposal, term it unnatural and advance arguments proving their reservations. They have come up with serious objections to the city government’s plan and have apparently succeeded in slowing it down to some extent.”

The source said that the police hierarchy had approached the federal and provincial authorities to halt the city government’s move. The latter believes that the spirit of the devolution plan demands traffic control and management to be shifted to the local administration.

The source informed Dawn that the Sindh Local Government Ordinance allows the district governments to regulate the traffic system. Sections 191(2) and 192(2) of the fifth schedule of the SLGO strengthen the city government’s argument for the organisation and regulation of traffic. “The SLGO,” he said, “also wants local governments to make ‘such arrangements and by-laws for the control and regulation of traffic as may be necessary to prevent the danger to and ensure the safety, convenience and comfort of the public’ under the subject of ‘Transport and traffic’ in its sixth schedule.”

Huge investment involved

Following the spirit of the devolution plan, the city government had by late 2007 designed a plan to initially hire some 6,000 wardens, eyeing huge investments from the provincial government to set up the traffic planning and control system, which is believed to be the subject of much debate in the corridors of power. An estimated three billion rupees was to be spent on the system designed by the city government, which the local authorities asked the Sindh government to finance but were not given an approval for.

Meanwhile, said the sources, one of the objections raised against the proposed transfer by the police authorities was that such legislation for traffic control and management required a presidential ordinance – not one from the provincial governor, as requested by the city government.

“Although the request is yet to be addressed by the Sindh governor, senior members of the traffic police department have prepared a detailed presentation for the provincial authorities to prove their arguments about the legislation,” said the source.

When contacted, the heads of both camps – the city government and traffic the police – appeared to disagree with each others’ viewpoint but avoided making any comments. However, their arguments in favour of and against the proposal clearly showed that the issue is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

“Traffic engineering is the responsibility of the city government but its management and control is not, which doesn’t seem sensible,” said City Nazim Mustafa Kamal. “We have tried to convince both the provincial government and the police high-ups about the spirit of the proposal but they don’t appear ready to recognise that.”

The traffic police department disagrees, which encourages the authorities to support the current set-up. “We have reservations that have been forwarded to the people concerned,” said DIG traffic Wajid Ali Durrani. “One can’t simply remove the traffic section from the rest of the police system. Above all, there are serious legislative issues that need to be addressed first.”