City Traffic Officer Tayyab Hafeez Cheema. PHOTO: EXPRESS
LAHORE: The City Traffic Police will start using general packet radio service (GPRS) technology from June 30 to monitor the movement of wardens to ensure that during work hours they were present at the locations assigned to them, City Traffic Officer Tayeb Hafeez Cheema said on Monday.
He was speaking at the Lahore High Court during the hearing of a petition seeking directives for the traffic police to prevent parking of vehicles on undesignated areas.
Cheema said that the traffic police had signed an agreement in this regard with Mobilink, a private cellular company.
The CTO said that a manual monitoring system had been put in place since February to check and penalise wardens found shirking their work.
In a report submitted in the court on Monday, the CTO mentioned establishment of separate lanes for motorcyclists, installation of traffic signs, distribution of mega phones among wardens to educate road users and issuance of warning tickets to violators of rules as steps taken by the police to facilitate smooth flow of traffic.
Earlier, the court directed the CTO to ensure that parking of vehicles was allowed only at designated places and appropriate signs were put up at places where parking was prohibited.
The court also directed the CTO to use the media to raise awareness among the public about traffic rules. It said that rather than limiting such campaigns to an annual ritual, the current practice, they should be undertaken every month.
The court also sought a report on measures taken by the police to prevent pillion riding in the city. It summoned the Rescue 1122 director general to assist the court on the matter.
The lack of parking space at schools was also discussed on Monday. The court observed that in most schools of the city there was no designated parking space.
Therefore, it said that people driving to schools to pick and drop their children were left with no option but to park on the roadside.
The court directed the district government to ensure that no parking was allowed on the road for the purpose of pick and drop of students and that education institutes provide adequate parking space for the purpose inside or near their premises.
The CTO was asked to submit a compliance report in the court on July 3.
Earlier, the CTO submitted that the service rules for wardens had been finalised and were now being vetted by the Services and General Administration Department. He said that the service structure was expected to be put in place in four months.
He said a separate committee had also been constituted to evaluate the performance of wardens on a monthly basis. He said cash prizes and certificates would be awarded to the best performers every month. He added that Rs750,000 had been allocated for the purpose by the Inspector General of Police.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 23rd, 2015.
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