ISLAMABAD: The National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) is facing an acute shortage of logistics and manpower to maintain their standard and deliver services to motorists, senior officers told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

They said the shortage increased by 50pc since the department took over three new motorways M-3 (Lahore-Abdul Hakeem), M-4 (Pindi Bhattian-Shorkot and Shorkot- Multan) and M-5 (Multan-Sukkur).

They said resources of the police, including manpower and logistics, had remained unchanged with the passage of time.

The resources used for patrolling, entry and exit control along with security for M-1 (Peshawar-Islamabad), M-2 (Islamabad-Lahore) and M-9 (Karachi-Hyderabad) are distributed among six motorways, resulting in the shortage of logistics and manpower by 50pc in each motorway, they added.

Recruitment done for the three new motorways are yet to reach on ground and the entire process took two-and-a-half years, from approval of the seats to completion of training.

The training of recruits was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic as all activities, including training, remained suspended for over four months.

They said vehicles for patrolling and security cameras did not match to the requirements on the new motorways which were divided into beats, each of which covers an area of 48-50 kilometres. A beat is further divided into four sub-beats, each comprising 12kms and at present there is only one vehicle available for a sub-beat.

The officials said rings and link roads fall under the jurisdiction of the area police concerned.

There is an issue of theft of fences, installed at the sides of motorways, to restrict movement of people, animals and vehicles.

This theft, they said, is reported to the National Highway Authority (NHA) and local police.

The NHA is responsible for repair and maintenance and this work needs funds, they stated, adding the local police registered cases over theft against unidentified persons and recoveries were made rarely.

Due to shortage of manpower and logistics, the maximum response time of the patrolling vehicle to an emergency call is six minutes. They said sometimes the NHMP helpline receives multiple emergency calls at a time from the same area or a call after another.

In this situation, callers are informed that they will be attended to after the vehicle is free, thus increasing response time, they added.

NHMP Inspector General Dr Kaleem Imam was not available for commenting despite several attempts to get in touch with him.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2020