Watch out for traffic cops when you park

KARACHI – The city’s traffic police in connivance with some private contractors are causing gross inconvenience to the citizens by lifting their vehicles from different locations allegedly over illegal parking without informing the owners. Most of the time, the vehicle owners are shocked on their return when they see that their vehicle is missing from the place where they had parked it, according to a survey conducted by Pakistan Today.
The traffic police personnel accompanied with some other persons can be seen lifting vehicles from the thoroughfares in commercial centres of the metropolis like Saddar, Tariq Road, MA Jinnah Road, etc causing problems for citizens. A source in the Sindh Home Department disclosed that the vehicle-lifting business has become very lucrative and every year the contract is awarded to some influential police official.
The vehicles lifted from the Saddar area are shifted to either a ground adjacent to the Preedy police station or the Polo Ground. Plain-clothed police officials and the private contractor’s employees sit under a small covered area to collect vehicle-lifting charges in the name of fines. However, they do not issue any documentary proof or a valid receipt. On of the victims of vehicle-lifting, Abdul Sattar Bhatti was shocked when he could not find his motorcycle where he had parked it.
He told Pakistan Today that someone who had seen the traffic police officer of lifting the vehicle informed him about it otherwise he could not have come to know of it. “When I reached the location where the lifted vehicles are parked, plain-clothed police officers asked me to pay Rs 500 as lifting charges from illegal parking area. After bargaining, the officials agreed at Rs 200 and allowed me to take away the motorcycle but they did not issue any receipt,” Bhatti said.
He said that collection of hundreds of rupees as lifting charges was sheer injustice, adding that the government should take solid measures to provide relief to the masses instead of adding to the woes of the poor people. “The traffic officials took away my vehicle and when I approached them, they demanded Rs 500 including Rs 300 as fine and Rs 200 lifting charges,” a young lady looking for her vehicle outside a medical store at the Stadium Road told Pakistan Today.
She said that two tyres of her vehicle were punctured during the towing of the vehicle that caused severe problems for her to take the car back. “The Sindh government should allocate proper parking places especially at markets and create awareness among the masses about proper parking,” she added. The police should advertise the parking rules and regulations in print and electronic media to educate people against parking in the no parking zones, she said, suggesting that the fine should be at least Rs 50.
The City District Government Karachi, in order to facilitate Karachiites visiting the Saddar area, had constructed a multi-million rupees Parking Plaza, which could not bring about the desired results due to lack of awareness and apathy of the authorities concerned. The sources in Sindh Home Department said that more than 500 bikes and 250 cars are lifted on daily basis from the Saddar area alone and corrupt traffic police personnel issue receipts having no official records.
“The business is politically motivated and it would be very tough for the authorities to crack down on them,” they added. The home department officials have not direct involvement with traffic police and it is the responsibility of the police high-ups to take measures to address the grievances of the people, the sources said.