Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Traffic problems have compounded in the City Traffic Police Sadiqabad circle due to the negligence and the involvement of traffic wardens in corrupt practices and money harvesting.

Traffic wardens have confined themselves to discharging only one obligation of setting up pickets in deserted places and issuing challan tickets to citizens instead of controlling traffic.

In the garb of challans, traffic wardens have started grabbing food items, meat, and groceries from the shopkeepers, chicken sellers and butchers. The switch over by the traffic wardens from the real duty to money minting and groceries grabbing, illegal taxi stands, traffic jams, illegal parking and illegal constructions have started mushrooming in Sadiqabad.

The traders and residents of Sadiqabad have threatened to observe a strike against the traffic wardens on erecting pickets at the entry point of every street and mohallah and issuing unjust challans.

The traffic wardens instead of ensuring the smooth flow of traffic outside schools, colleges and universities during office hours erect pickets and set up barricades outside major streets and all the entry points of Band Khanna Road, Kurri Road, ASF Gate, Rawal Chowk and Sadiqabad.

The wardens set up pickets in the form of groups. The citizens who leave their homes to proceed to their offices or places of work are intercepted by traffic wardens and they note the number of the citizens’ vehicles in te challan book before the car or motorcycle stops near them. The licence and registration book is demanded and a challan is issued without fail as soon as the traffic wardens read the name of the citizen from the registration book.

When any citizen dares to ask from them the reason for challaning him the traffic warden gives a reply in categorical terms and in blatant fashion that it is the order of the CTO to meet the target of Rs 10000 against challans every month.

This way the traffic wardens demand groceries and food items from the nearby shop keepers and when their demand is not met then they chllan the traders.

The thickly populated area of Sadiqabad which consists of over seven union councils continues to remain in the grip of traffic jams the whole day long due to lack of attention by traffic wardens towards regulating traffic. The traffic wardens have allowed the taxi and rickshaw drivers to set up illegal stands at the entry points of all the streets and mohalla in return for an easy load of Rs 100 to 200 and these taxi stands have turned into security risks. No action is taken against illegal taxi and rickshaw stands despite the filing of complaints by the citizens against them.

The residents of Sadiqabad have appealed to the RPO Rawalpindi to visit Sadiqabad during different times in plain clothes and a private vehicle, review the situation on his own and take stern action against the traffic wardens found involved in corruption. The citizens want to be salvaged from unjust chllans.

The citizens have appealed to the High Court’s Rawalpindi bench to take notice of the encroachments and traffic jams in Sadiqabad with reference to a pending petition and rescue them from the highhandedness of the traffic police.