LAHORE - The Punjab government has approved recruitment of hundreds of junior traffic officers and assistant traffic officers for all districts of the province.
In Lahore, more than 1,500 junior and assistant traffic officers will be recruited to help traffic wardens and senior traffic wardens. The recruitment process will be completed within a couple of months. Some 2,000 traffic wardens will be transferred from Lahore to other districts of the province to lead the young traffic officers.
A senior official told The Nation that the government, as part of the new strategy, had approved the Service Rules for Traffic Wardens a couple of months ago. “The junior traffic officers and assistant traffic officers will be supervised by traffic wardens not only in Lahore but also in other districts,” the official said.
The new recruitment policy comes as the government is all set to introduce traffic wardens across the province. At present, wardens are responsible for traffic control and road safety measures in Lahore, Gujranwala, Multan, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Sialkot districts.
According to the plan, more than 3,000 junior and assistant traffic officers will be recruited for all Punjab districts. Junior traffic officers will be recruited through the Punjab Public Service Commission and assistant traffic officers will be recruited by the police department. The posts will be advertised in the print media.
After approval of service rules for traffic wardens, the police department recently promoted dozens of traffic wardens to the post of senior traffic wardens.
A senior traffic police officer said the whole service structure for traffic police would be overhauled with the induction of young officers. “We have thousands of well-trained wardens. They will be given supervisory role since most of traffic wardens will be transferred to other districts to lead the new force,” said the officer who is familiar with the development.
District and regional police officers have been asked to furnish their demands with regard to available posts of junior and assistant traffic officers under their administrative control, the officer said on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, the Punjab Home Department issued a notification to establish the “Punjab Police Traffic Wardens System” in the entire province. “Rules regarding the recruitment, promotions, and designation of members of the service, the posts they may occupy, and other ancillary issues shall be notified separately,” says the notification issued on June 7.
The traffic warden system, introduced in Lahore almost a decade ago, will now be extended to the entire province because of its satisfactory results.
Official sources said that authorities were planning to implement the traffic warden system in the remaining 30 districts of Punjab by the end of year. They said the traffic warden system had already been working successfully in six districts of the province.
The police department has been working to build a similar traffic force across the province. The initiative is said to be part of the government’s plans to overhaul the corruption-ridden traffic policing.
According to officials, at least 4,787 traffic police officials have been given the status of wardens and this number will swell to 6,000 or more after induction of new officers.
In 2006, more than 3,300 young graduates were inducted in the Lahore police as traffic wardens with the motto of “courtesy, service, and excellence”. They were supposed to help and guide road users with an effective traffic control management system. However, these educated traffic officers are frequently seen fighting with motorists over different issues. Also, complaints about wardens misbehaving motorists, using cell phones during duty hours, and ignoring traffic law violations are quite common.
According to road safety experts, an unprecedented increase in the number of two-wheelers and four-wheelers in big cities has left the government with no other option but to create a state-of-the-art traffic control and management system across the province.
