An overwhelming majority of traffic wardens in the metropolitan has been posted along the route of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), leaving the rest of the city in the hands of the old constables, “borrowed” from other districts, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The Traffic Department had to “borrow” around 150 traffic constables from other districts of Punjab to fill the gap created by the deployment of wardens to manage the traffic mess which will be created due to the BRTS construction. Sources disclosed that “constables were going to stay there for good”, because the shortage of wardens was not going to be fulfilled anytime soon.
However, this has created a sense of deprivation among the wardens who think the move has changed them into “bus conductors”, while the city’s traffic would be managed by the “uneducated constables from other districts.” “We, the educated wardens have been posted all along the BRTS just like bus conductors, while the city’s traffic has been left at the mercy of these illiterate constables. Where do the educated people commute, on The Mall or under the bridges of BRTS? The high-ups are not paying any heed to this problem,” a traffic warden told Pakistan Today.
Upon further probe, it came to the surface that the traffic police had recently shifted 300 wardens to the Lahore Ring Road as well. This has contributed to the shortage of wardens and the consequent traffic woes of the residents.
According to details, the metropolitan has around 3,400 wardens, while there is a shortage of around 800. A senior police official, giving details of the shortage, said around 275 wardens were on a training course and around 300 were deployed on the ring road.
Lahore CTO Captain (r) Sohail said the wardens’ feelings of being converted into bus conductors were baseless because they were supposed to manage traffic wherever they were posted, be it onThe Mall or along the BRTS route. “If the shortage of wardens was not managed by additional force from other districts, the media and the people would have complained about traffic woes. We do not get any appreciation. I’ve already written to the Punjab IG regarding the shortage and asked for new recruitments. The recruitment will be done through the PPSC,” he added.
