Urban pollution has attained an alarming proportion as 250 traffic wardens had fallen victims to deadly diseases of TB and Hepatitis in Faisalabad. This was disclosed by Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Ibrar Ahmed Naikokar while addressing a meeting of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry Standing Committee on Agri-Tourism and Civic Problems here on Friday.
"I have been trying my best to instill confidence in traffic police so that they could discourage their professional obligations with a renewed commitment and zeal fully inconformity with the professional standards. He told that as many as 15 million challans were made by the traffic police during last ten years.
"If the total population of Faisalabad is around five million then every resident of this city has been challaned thrice during this period without bringing positive impact on the traffic related issues which are further complicating with each passing day", he added.
CTO said that traffic police alone cannot ensure up to the mark traffic regulations as at least four other departments are also directly linked with its performance. In this connection, he mentioned engineering department that is responsible for the construction of roads and Faisalabad Municipal Corporation (FMC) mandated to undertake the job of providing Zebra crossing, installation of traffic signals and above all removal of encroachments from the roads. However, Ibrar Ahmed was confident that traffic issues could be resolved within days provided business community is serious in removal of encroachments.
He offered to appoint prominent businessmen as "Ambassadors of Traffic Police" so that they could display banners and set up camps in different crossings for the awareness and sensitization of the road users.
Continuing, the CTO said that Faisalabad is comparatively a new city but we cannot change the temperament of the people within few days of campaigns. He said that IG Punjab has directed to discourage traffic challans as Punjab police is not in a mood to punish the people. He said that few challans are only made in case of sheer violation of traffic rules.
Commenting on the increasing urban pollution, he said that we all should make conscious efforts to plant maximum trees as these could fix carbon dioxide in addition to releasing ample quantity of oxygen which is a prerequisite for life on the planet.
He suggested that in this connection an environmental emergency could also be declared by allocating a major chunk of available financial resources for massive tree plantation to arrest the increasing population. He also urged upon the civic organizations to contribute their role in tree plantation in addition to protection of the already planted saplings.
He also mentioned that in outskirts of city, vegetables are being irrigated with polluted sewer water which is a potential threat to the human health. Earlier Farooq Yusuf, Acting President FCCI said that business community was fully concentrating on its Social Corporate Responsibility with a focus on tree plantation. He further told that FCCI in collaboration with other government departments is trying to solve the civic and business related problem of its members in particular and citizen at large. He hoped that this corporation will continue in future to get positive results.
Tariq Tanveer, Vice Chairman of Standing Committee told that he had floated an idea to link tree plantation with Independence Day celebrations few years back. "This move was widely accepted by the masses and this year tree plantation campaign is being observed in 15 cities on August 14. He further told that FCCI Standing Committee will plant 10,000 saplings during its tree plantation campaign on August 11.
"We will also provide free saplings to the plant lovers", he added. He further told that 4th Annual Event of Agri-Tourism will be observed from November 9 to 11 in Chiniot during which our traditional rural culture will also be highlighted Later Farooq Yusuf, Acting President presented FCCI shield to Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Ibrar Ahmed Naikokar.
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