In an effort to improve the city’s traffic flow, the Sindh government has decided to strictly enforce a court decision prohibiting heavy vehicle traffic from entering Karachi.
An important meeting was held, and Sindh Chief Secretary Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput presided over it. The meeting was attended by officials from the Motorway Police, including Commissioner of Karachi Muhammad Iqbal Memon, Secretary of Interior Saeed Ahmed Mangrijo, Secretary of Transport Abdul Halim Shaikh, and DIG Traffic Ahmed Nawaz.
In the meeting, it was decided to crack down on cars with tinted windows, illegal pressure horns, bar lights, and illegal number plates. The owners of vehicles with deceptive and ornate number plates ought to pay hefty fines and have them impounded.
The Chief Secretary informed Commissioner Karachi that Section 144 would be enacted in the city on Thursday to begin a crackdown on those making illegal fancy number plates. In order to improve traffic flow, he also instructed Deputy Commissioner East to remove all types of parking spaces from the service road of University Road.
The DIG Traffic informed the meeting that 15,704 drivers have been arrested for breaking the rules this year, and 3,421 vehicles have had their fitness certificates suspended. He went on to say that there have also been 320 FIRs filed against heavy vehicles.
He added that other provinces have higher challan amounts for traffic violations than Sindh. The Chief Secretary stated that the fine would soon be increased and that a summary would be sent to the Chief Minister for this purpose. He stated that more than 200 charged parking permits had been issued by various organizations in the city, but the Traffic Police had never been consulted regarding the issuance of these permits. He instructed the Commissioner Karachi to convene a meeting with the KMC, DMC, and Cantonment Boards, which are responsible for issuing charged parking permits, to resolve the issue.
The meeting decided to link the driving license data with the information on challans issued by the Traffic Police. The initiative will make it simpler to penalize motorists who break traffic laws. In this regard, a committee comprising Secretary Excise, Secretary IT, DIG Traffic, and DIG Driving License was also formed.