ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday gave 48 hours to Islamabad and Rawalpindi Traffic Police to come up with a comprehensive traffic management plan to ease traffic congestion on various roads of the twin cities.
The minister also ordered complete ban on the use of mobile phones by traffic wardens during their duty hours.
Talking to participants of the meeting that included Mayor Rawalpindi also, the Minister advised elected representatives and senior officers of the administration and the Police of the two cities not to restrict themselves to their luxurious offices and to personally visit every pocket of the cities for monitoring on-ground situation especially vis-à-vis traffic and security.
The interior minister said that it was unfortunate that the senior officers remain confined to their offices and thus remain unaware of the on-ground situation resulting in miseries of the general public due to various issues.
The minister ordered that a comprehensive traffic plan should be prepared within next 48 hours for the twin cities under the supervision of AIG Operations Islamabad and RPO Rawalpindi. The plan, he said, should be further scrutinized by the respective Chief Commissioner Islamabad and Commissioner Rawalpindi and implemented within a week.
Taking notice of frequent traffic violations, the minister ordered that no laxity should be shown by the traffic officials in ensuring implementation of traffic rules. He ordered Islamabad and Rawalpindi police to ensure on-spot fines in case of traffic violations. This, he continued, should be implemented across the board and without showing any consideration whatsoever.
Giving a cue about the traffic management strategy for the twin cities to overcome traffic related issues, the Minister said that initially four main roads of the twin cities that include Kashmir Highway, Express way, Blue Area and Faizabad-Convention road in Islamabad and Murree road, Peshawar road, Airport road and Rawal road in Rawalpindi be focused and measures should be taken for ensuring free flow of the traffic. The scope of plan would be subsequently broaden to include various other arteries of the twin cities.
About irregular parking patterns especially in the commercial areas, the minister ordered the traffic officials to ensure parking at designated places.
The minister also ordered Traffic Police of the twin cities to coordinate with NADRA and utilize Safe City Project for monitoring and regulating of traffic flow at various main roads.
The interior minister also directed ICT administration to establish modern toll plazas at Faizabad and Kashmir Highway to ensure security at entry and exit points of between the twin cities.
The minister also took notice of the traffic congestion and irregular parking at Adiyala Road causing huge inconvenience for the public and ordered Chief Traffic Officer Rawalpindi to ensure smooth flow of traffic at Adiyala Road.
