RAWALPINDI: The Safe City Project will also be extended to Rawalpindi and the project will take three years to complete, City Police Officer (CPO) Abbas Ahsan told local shopkeepers on Tuesday.

The CPO was visiting the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) to meet local shopkeepers and hear their concerns about security in markets and bazaars of the garrison city.

The shopkeepers said they will cooperate with the local administration and police if a central desk is established to connect all CCTV cameras in shopping malls and markets.

However, the CPO said the government is working on introducing the Safe City Project in Rawalpindi and that it will take three years to complete.

He said a close liaison between the police and traders will help in maintaining law and order in markets.

“A special help desk will be formed in the CPO office for close coordination and a special committee comprising of senior police officers and chamber representatives will work on a project for model community policing,” he said.

He said a monthly meeting of the committee will help the police resolve the key issues of traders and that the local administration will approach traders for possible assistance and cooperation in identifying key locations for installing CCTV cameras in markets.

“It is the responsibility of the police to provide protection to citizens and the police are trying their best to maintain peace in the city,” the CPO said.

He added that all available resources will be utilised to resolve the problems faced by the traders’ community.

He assured that the ban on wall chalking and banners will be implemented.

Some shopkeepers from Banni pointed out that the Banni police station’s building is encroaching on the street in the back. They said that if shops are razed down in anti-encroachment drives that the portion of the police station which is encroaching on the street should be as well.

RCCI President Malik Shahid Saleem said coordination between the police and the business community will help bridge the trust deficit between the two.

He said the committee to be formed for coordination between the police and the chamber will help maintain peace and security in the city.

Mr Saleem said street crimes have increased recently in markets and said traders want more patrolling during rush hours and a strict monitoring of exit points.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2019