Lack of conveyance facility puts driving in jeopardy

KARACHI - Inadequate transport facility has put a question mark on the future of road safety education programme (RSEP) and it is feared the programme may not bear the desired fruits in the prevailing circumstances, TheNation has learnt. According to details, due to favouritism and preference on the bases of liking and disliking and contacts in the corridors of power, a number of officials of the City government are enjoying more than one official vehicle. But on the other hand, hundreds of thousands children of poor and middle class masses will deprive of participating in the road safety education program if proper transportation facility is not provided to the officials of the Transport and Communication Department (TCD). The road safety education programme which was initiated after hectic efforts by the Transport and Communication Department (TCD) of the City government to organise the programme in the CDGK runs and private schools across the City. But the plan is severely effected due to lack of facilities, especially lack of transportation for the officials concerned, who will conduct the road safety education programmes in schools across the City. It may be noted that Mustafa Kamal led previous city government initiated the road safety education program more than two years ago. Though it was running on a snail pace, however, it manage somehow organising the programme in various schools last year. It was stopped due to summer vocations last year and remained suspended many months in 2009. But it was started in by the end of last year after giving responsibility of organizing the classes of road safety education programs to another officials of the TCD. Commuting in Karachi, either through personal transport or private one, every body knows, is a big problem for all citizens and to reach the destination on time is a difficult task due to traffic congestion on citys roads. The officials of TCD who organised the road safety education programs in the schools are deprived of travelling facilities. Neither travelling allowance is given to the officers concerned who went to conduct the program on road safety education in the schools across the city, nor proper official vehicle provided them by city government. The vehicle (Jeep), which had been provided to the officials concerned is not in a position to be relied upon. Sources in the TCD department said that the officers are committed to go all the schools to organize the classes on road safety education but what can they do when they did not have travelling facilities. Thousands of rupees are required to maintain the official vehicle and bring it into the running condition, they pointed out. Some insiders who knew the procedures and policies of allotting the official vehicles to the officers of city government regretted that it is surprising that various officers and staffers of city government holding more than one official vehicles, but on the other hand for organizing the road safety education program for schools going children to aware them about the traffic bylaws and create traffic sense among them, there is no official vehicle to be given to the officers of TCD to start the program. Moreover, the officer, appointed to conduct road safety classes in the CDGK runs schools across the City is a lady namely Raeesa Begum and how she will manage it to travel extensively and organise the course in schools across the City is a matter of concern. It is to be noted that since the rapid developments of infrastructure like construction of road, flyovers and underpasses, especially the signal free corridors in City, fatal road accidents are on the rise and an average 4 to 5 people are being killed and dozens injured on a daily basis, Sources said that if proper conveyance facility is not provided to the staffers of TCD or the already available rusted Jeep do not maintain, the road safety education program will hit a snag and not only children but all segments of society will remain deprive of significance of road safety education. According to the TCD and traffic police own statistics, on an average more than 700 people kill in traffic related incident every year in the City. It says that since 1990, around 2,000 people were injured. It further says that 51 % of the total death number is pedestrians and out of them 26 % minor children. However, traffic experts have serious reservations about these statistics and ratio of the deaths and injured people and raised objections that how it is possible that when the number of vehicles is being increased in million over the last two decades and the Citys population has touched 180 million, how it is possible that during last 20 years the ratio of killing people in the metropolis rotated between 675 to 700 annually. So the road safety education program is one of the most important tasks of the City government as far as the safety of life of citizens is concerned.