Official bullies

There are many insufferable issues in Karachi which the citizens experience daily. Power outages, water shortages, gas loadshedding and heavy traffic are some of the main problems. However, there is another matter to which little attention is paid: the misuse of authority. This problem is prevalent in the various departments of this city; I witness it regularly in the traffic police department. I'm not a lawyer, nor concerned with the regulatory bodies but as a citizen of this city, my question is: why does the traffic police hand out so many ‘challans’? On numerous occasions I have seen traffic wardens seize excessive amounts of money from truck and lorry drivers in the name of ‘challan’.

How can an ordinary truck driver afford to pay these heavy fines on his meagre wages. We often hear of traffic police taking action against people who abuse them or who drive recklessly but this doesn't mean that they can ‘challan’ every loaded transport without proper inquiry. Traffic regulations have to be properly ameliorated so that no official can abuse their power be they in the traffic department or any other official department.

Ayesha Farhan

Karachi