ISLAMABAD: Senator Moula Bux Chandio of the PPP on Monday said the solution to all problems being faced by Pakistan was in the auctioning of government properties.

He stated this in reply to comments by Minister for Communications Murad Saeed during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Communications.

Mr Saeed said a decision had been made to auction 219 vehicles of the National Highway Authority (NHA). He said he was astonished to see that all toll plazas which generated revenues had been given on lease while those which did not generate revenues were kept with the authority.

“I have decided to reconsider the leases of toll plazas and if law permitted they would be auctioned again,” he said.

Says all toll plazas generating revenue were leased, if law permits they will be auctioned again

Mr Chandio said he was well aware that the NHA was a very ‘poor’ organisation.

“But the fact is most of the officers come to the NHA for a few years and quit after achieving their targets,” he remarked.

He said the NHA had established two toll plazas at a distance of almost three kilometres on Super Highway (Hyderabad).

He said it was unfair with the commuters as according to the NHA rules there must be a distance of at least 36 km between two toll plazas. After the intervention of Chairman Hidayatullah, the NHA assured the senators that the issue would be addressed within six weeks.

Ticket fee on motorways

Inspector General of Motorway Police Aamir Zulfiqar Khan requested the committee to play its role to get the data of car owners or their licences so that the police would increase the fines in case of repeated offences.

He said in Europe after every challan some points of the licence holder were deducted due to which not only the amount of fine in increased but also their licences could be suspended.

“Currently, we are fining Rs750 for speeding and if a car does not stop we impose a fine of Rs1,250 after chasing and forcing the driver to stop. A few days ago, a 23-year-old student was caught for driving at the speed of 150 kilometres per hour. We need to increase the fine to discourage people from speeding and reducing accidents,” he said.

He said the police should be allowed to increase the fine from Rs1,250 to Rs5,000 and to Rs10,000 in case of repeated offences.

For this, the police should be given access to the database of vehicles and the licence holders so that it could be verified when the driver had violated the traffic rules last time.

However, PTI Senator Nauman Wazir said the fines should not be increased to Rs10,000 as his party had recently come to power.

“I suggest that you should prepare a software which would empower you to check when the driver had violated traffic rules last time on the motorway. Moreover, in case of repeated offences the fine can be increased to Rs1,500. And in case of fourth or fifth offence, the licence of the driver should be suspended,” he said.

The minister for communications said he would use his role in preparing the software.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2018