Daily Times

LAHORE: Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Dr Hassan Askari visited central election monitoring control room set up by the home department in civil secretariat and integrated command, control and communication centre established in the office of Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA) at Qurban Lines on Wednesday.

He reviewed the election monitoring process in central control room of civil secretariat and appreciated the information collection system for monitoring the elections by using latest technology.

Chief secretary and high officials of the home department gave a detailed briefing to the chief minister about the control room. Provincial Finance & Law Minister Zia Haider Rizvi, chief secretary, additional chief secretary, inspector general police and other officials were present on the occasion.

Talking on the occasion, the chief minister said that it is the most important election in the history of the country. The Punjab government has devised a composite digital monitoring system by making good use of the latest technology and every polling station is being monitored. Along with it, the security situation is also being fully watched, he said, adding that necessary facilities have been provided for voters at polling stations so that they could independently use their democratic right. He said that composite arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful and transparent elections and foolproof security arrangements have been made at polling stations. With the grace of Almighty Allah and as a result of effective arrangements made by the Punjab government, smooth polling process is in progress in a peaceful atmosphere. It is hoped that continuity of the democratic process will result in strengthening of the country, he added. He said that Army and Rangers’ officials have also been deputed along with the police to further improve the situation of law and order.

Voting has been done for 141 National Assembly seats and 297 Provincial Assembly seats. The number of candidates for National Assembly seats is 1,634 while the total number of candidates for Punjab Assembly seats is 4,018. The total number of voters in Punjab is 60,672,870 and out of that 33,679,993 are males and 26,992,877 are females, he added.

Later, Caretaker Punjab CM Hassan Askari visited the office of PSCA at Qurban Lines. He went to integrated command, control and communication centre and inspected the security arrangements and the situation of law and order in the city through latest Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras. He expressed the satisfaction over the law and order situation and the arrangements made in this regard. The CM was given a detailed briefing about integrated command, control and communication centre.

Hassan Askari also inspected traffic management system and security arrangements through latest cameras.

Afterwards, the CM presided over a high-level meeting in which briefing was given to him about the performance and future plans of PSCA. Addressing the meeting, Askari expressed satisfaction that security agencies are monitoring every nook and corner through CCTV cameras and peaceful atmosphere is provided to the voters. Polling stations are being watched through CCTV cameras and the law and order situation has been improved due to continuous monitoring. He said that integrated command, control and communication centre is a good initiative for the protection of life and property of the people as this project is useful in making Lahore a secure and peaceful city. Every government will support this project, he maintained. Such initiatives enhance the image of the police while the use of latest technology improves organisational capacity. He said that initiatives which directly benefit the citizens have their own importance and efficacy and trained human resources play an important role in the success of said beneficial projects. The effective system helps in improving the management and citizens are also facilitated. There is no doubt that protection of life and property of the citizens is the prime responsibility of the state and this project is very important in this regard. The citizens will be at ease when the city will be peaceful and secure. Improving the quality of life of the citizens is the responsibility of the state and people will be further sensitised about the utility of this project as soon as its scope will be further expanded. He said that measures taken for curbing the crimes left a positive impact on the citizen. He also appreciated that line departments have worked in a professional manner on the polling day.

PSCA Managing Director Amir Malik and PSCA Chief Operating Officer Akbar Nasir informed the CM that around 8,000 CCTV cameras have been installed in Lahore to monitor the law and order situation.

Askari strongly condemned the attack on Army jawans deputed for the protection of polling staff at NA-271 Baleda near Pakistan-Iran border.

Published in Daily Times, July 26^th 2018.