The News
Thursday, July 10, 2008
All the current and upcoming highways under the control of the federal government and the National Highways Authority (NHA) will be handed over to the National Highways and Motorway Police (NH&MP), credible sources told ‘The News’ here Wednesday.
A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting of the Ministry of Communications. The National Highways and Motorway Police, which is already under pressure to maintain its standards of patrolling on the current jurisdiction, will be put to test when the Rawalpindi-Murree-Muzaffarabad highway known as the Pindi-Murree Super Highway and the Quetta-Karachi Highway known as the RCD Highway is handed over to it later this year. It has also been learnt that the Hasanabdal-Manshera section of the famous Karakuram Highway will also be handed over to NH&MP after its widening to a double carriage road by NHA.
According to well-placed sources, NH&MP is patrolling the Quetta-Karachi highway for which a total number of 450 officers against a request of 1,200 have been provided to it in the first phase while the remaining will be available in two more stages. Similarly, NH&MP has requested the federal government for another 70 officers for the Pindi-Murree Super Highway and another 230 for the Hasanabdal-Manshera section.
Replying to a question regarding increase in the number of accidents on motorways and highways, an official said, it was the increase in the number of traffic on the same roads that was resulting in increased number of accidents. “How can you control the accident rate when the number of vehicles entering and leaving the roads with the same infrastructure and width is increasing every passing day? We are, however, training our officers in different hospitals of the country to provide first aid to injured passengers,” he maintained.
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