Safe City Project for Peshawar yet to kick off

PESHAWAR: Bureaucratic hurdles have delayed the launch of practical work on the Safe City Project for the provincial capital even though it was proposed several years ago.

The plan was proposed for the federal capital, Islamabad, as well as the provincial capitals of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The projects for Lahore and Islamabad have already been completed to ensure better security for Islamabad and Lahore. However, the project hasn’t even started in Peshawar despite the fact it needed this more than any other city in the country because it has been the prime target of the terrorists. A source said that some theoretical work and a few meetings have been held so far regarding the project, but nothing practical has been done. The Project Coordination Unit (PCU) of the KP Police was tasked to complete the project to secure Peshawar, the city that has come under the highest number of terrorist attacks in the country during the last 10 years and suffered record losses. A number of other government departments were tasked to support the PCU. A source said former chief minister Pervez Khattak during a meeting in February last year had directed all the departments to expedite work on the project as it was meant to help secure the lives and properties of the residents of Peshawar. A senior police official said that the plan was almost ready now and the practical work would be initiated soon. He added that the Safe City Project for Peshawar would be state-of-the-art and better than Lahore and Islamabad to ensure security of the people and establishments in the city. Under the Safe City Project, over 6,000 closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) would be installed in Peshawar. The CCTV cameras would enable the police to keep a check on the movement of suspicious elements and maintain record of any untoward incident.

The CCTV cameras would be monitored from a control centre equipped with modern technology. Keeping in view the security situation and for ensuring check on the performance of police and observing their dealing with the public, CCTV cameras would be installed at around 800 different points in Peshawar to make it a safe city. Peshawar remained the prime target of the terrorists during the last almost 11 years as it was in the frontline in the war against terrorism and was accessible from the tribal areas where the militants had their hideouts.

Thousands of people in Peshawar including policemen, soldiers and civilians lost their lives in suicide attacks, bomb blasts, rocket fire, target killings and other kind of attacks. Schools, trade centres, hospitals, offices and other buildings were attacked causing losses amounting to billions of rupees in the city. Securing Peshawar has always been a tough task as it is surrounded by tribal areas, now merged with KP, from three sides. Most of the terror attacks were carried out in the city by militants based in the adjacent tribal areas. The police have constructed around 31 concrete buildings on the boundary with the erstwhile tribal areas to keep a check on movement of militants and criminals. Under the Safe City Project, CCTVs would also be installed in and outside all the police stations of the province and connected with cellular phone in the use of the concerned officials, including the district police officer, regional police officer and IGP. A number of CCTV cameras were installed at police stations and other public places in Peshawar in recent years. The CCTV cameras used to cover view of the lock-up, the office of the moharrar, entrance of the police station and surroundings of the building. However, many such cameras are not functional due to negligence, lack of maintenance and absence of trained hands.