KARACHI, Sept 30: While the traffic police authorities are determined to get the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Ordinance 2008 re-enforced, transporters in Karachi continue to oppose it and threaten to observe a long strike if the government tried to implement the ordinance that envisages enhancement of fine amount for violation of traffic rules.

The traffic police department is learnt to have written to the six-member committee assigned to review the ordinance that favour re-enforcement of the law.

In order to minimise traffic accidents and make commuters abide by the traffic rules, the ordinance was promulgated but due to multiple reasons, it could not be implemented, DIG Traffic Wajid Ali Durrani said while talking to PPI recently.

He regretted that the government had intervened to suspend the ordinance the very next day after the traffic police got it implemented with a view to curbing violations of traffic rules.

“The decision to implement the ordinance was withdrawn when the transport mafia threatened the government with a strike,” he said, adding: “Although the ordinance was enforced for just one day, it proved to be successful.”

He recalled that following the strike threat from transporters, the government formed the six-member committee comprising the Sindh minister for transport, CCPO Karachi, DIG Traffic and secretaries of the home, transport and law departments, he said.

It was in March this year when the ordinance was drafted and the country was ruled by an interim government. However, it was promulgated by the present government soon after taking charge of the affairs.

The ordinance was generally known as “fine enhancement ordinance”, the DIG said, adding that it was framed by amending the Provincial Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1965.

Mr Durrani was of the view that the law was supposed to be very effective. He maintained that traffic problems could not be solved without introducing strict laws and stringent measures.

“Under the ordinance, the amount of fine for violation of traffic rules was fixed at Rs300 for a motorcyclist, Rs500 for a car driver and Rs1,000 for a mini-bus driver,” he said.

Defending the ordinance, the DIG said the amounts were not at all high so far as the fine for motorcyclists and car-driver was concerned. “The fine money for commercial vehicles is also not unrealistic as rigour is the only way to make offenders refrain from violating a law.”

Though the government has not yet expressed its intention to re-introduce the ordinance, transporters appeared set to react strongly if it tried to make any move in this regard.

“We will give a call for a 10-day strike if the ordinance is imposed,” said Irshad Bukhari, President of the Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI). He accused the traffic police of extorting heavy amounts in bribe from drivers of the public transport vehicles. “They also blackmail us to mint money,” he added.

“Usually, we pay the price of our drivers’ mistakes,” Mr Bukhari said.

Arguing that it should be drivers who should be punished for violating traffic rules, the KTI chief said: “A special traffic magistrate should decide traffic violation cases and send an offender driver behind bars,” he suggested, adding: “Enhancing the fine money is no solution to the problem as the fine money has to be paid by the transporter involved and not the driver, who is the offender.”—PPI