The Karachi police chief Dr Amir Ahmed Shaikh said that the rickshaw drivers will “not be fined more than Rs150 in a day,” a local media outlet reported.
While addressing the media after the incident of a Karachi rickshaw driver’s self-immolation attempt, he said that the incident was “very sad”.
He said, “Traffic policemen had imposed a fine of Rs150 on him because his rickshaw was not equipped with a speedometer,” adding that “fining the driver was illegal and the traffic policeman has been suspended”.
The additional inspector general also said that “the challan was identified by entering the number of the rickshaw in the electronic system where it was revealed that the driver was fined 18 times in different areas in the past two years”.
Furthermore, according to the data collected after the inquiry it was found that the traffic policeman ‘targetted the driver for challan”. Moreover, Dr Shaikh said that an FIR would be registered and if needed the traffic policeman will be arrested.
The Karachi police chief ordered the traffic police officers to give a warning and let those people go who cannot afford to pay the fine.
“It was also requested that rickshaw drivers respect traffic laws and not park their vehicles in places they shouldn’t,” he added.
“If someone had a complaint regarding the police’s behaviour, they should contact the 15 helpline, police’s WhatsApp number or their Facebook page,” the Karachi police chief said while announcing that “if any rickshaw driver is unable to pay the challan, then he would pay it himself”.
