ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of public complaints, Federal Ombudsman Ijaz Ahmad Qureshi on Tuesday directed heads of government agencies to formulate an effective action plan to address growing traffic issues in the capital.

Chairing a meeting in his office, Mr Qureshi emphasised the need for better coordination and effective action by the authorities concerned, including the chief commissioner, the inspector general of police, communications secretary and the head of National Transport Research Centre (NTRC).

Various constraints were highlighted by the agencies in the meeting, such as acute shortage of manpower, meagre fines and dearth of financial resources for construction of road infrastructure.

Proposals and suggestions were also discussed to work out a feasible plan of action containing short and long-term measures.

CDA Member Planning Waseem Bajwa informed the meeting that some major roads were under construction and the civic body was working to complete the road infrastructure within the shortest possible time. He said metro bus services had been started on different routes which would ease the transport difficulties in Islamabad.

DIG Operations Sohail Zafar Chattha said the new traffic system was initiated in 2006 with 656 police officials and at present the strength was only 606 whereas the population and number of vehicles had increased disproportionally.

SSP Traffic Dr Syed Mustafa Tanveer said under the motor vehicle ordinance, fines for major violations were still as low as Rs200 which needed to be enhanced considerably.

NTRC chief Hameed Akhtar said most of the roads were designed for four wheel traffic whereas two and three wheel traffic had increased by millions, therefore, road traffic engineering needed due changes. He also emphasised the need to further improve the road traffic signage in Islamabad.

The ombudsman asked the Islamabad Traffic Police to consider getting traffic volunteers from educational institutions for the time being to control traffic at different points. He assured the police of taking up the matter of shortage of manpower and increase in fine, especially for repeaters of traffic violations, at the appropriate level.

He said road safety curriculum must be included in textbooks from junior to college levels, adding that enforcement of law must be ensured and safe city infrastructure as well as public transport system/network should be improved in the city.

He stated that the ombudsman secretariat would coordinate the preparation of short and long-term plans to meet challenges of traffic situation and would continue to monitor the progress in the coming weeks and months.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2022