Safety of citizens, preservation of environment rely on fit vehicles: CM
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the safety of citizens and preservation of the environment depend primarily on the continuous maintenance of both public and private vehicles.
This is why the provincial government in partnership with private sector is going to establish a state-of-the-art Vehicle Inspection and Certification System (VICS) in the city, said a statement on Wednesday.
He said this while addressing groundbreaking ceremony of the first VICS Center at SITE area this morning.
He was accompanied by Minister for Transport and Information Syed Nasir Shah.
He said that fitness is a very crucial component of road safety regime.
He said that an effective VICS programme would play a vital role in ensuring safety of citizens and preservation of the environment.
Murad said that the presence of unfit vehicles on roads is not only causing environmental pollution but also contributing to road accidents.
This is the reason that the provincial government has taken a long awaited imitative to establish first Vehicle Inspection and Certification System (VICS) Center at SITE.
The Transport & Mass Transit Department (TMT) had signed a Concession agreement with OPUS, a consortium, in July 2017. Under the VICS a state-of-the-art vehicle inspection and certification complying with international standards and specification would be established.
Murad said that in the first phase the VICS center is being established in the city and in the second there would be separate centers in every divisional headquarters.
Talking to the media, the chief minister said that the mechanical sweeping and washing of roads, and lifting of garbage in different parts of the city has started successfully. He urged the media to appreciate it and take up the issues of cleanliness where still exists. He said that the sweeping and cleanliness work of DMC West has been given to Sindh Solid Waste Management Board and very soon mechanical sweeping and lifting of garbage would be started there.
Replying to a question, he said that he has released KMC budget and have given them extra funds where they are required.
"We have strengthened it [the KMC] financially and I am sure they would also improve their performance, he remarked.
He deplored that last Sunday he had visited the city and saw the shopkeeper had thrown out their trash on the road instead of putting it into the dustbin that the Solid Waste Management Board has placed there.
Replying to a question, the chief minister said that he has already focused on curbing street crime in the city. The city of Karachi after experiencing terrorism, target killing and bhata khori has turned peaceful to such an extent that no terrorist incident took place in the city during 2017.
"Now, we are making this city more peaceful by launching targeted operation against the street criminals," he said.
The chief minister said that he has held a number of meeting on street crime and now things are improving.
"Karachi is a megalopolis city and some incidents of street crime is not a big issue in terms of its population," he said and added he was not justifying it but putting it on the record that the countries with a big size of population always face such situations.
He said that in the past there used to be shutter down strikes. Passenger buses were set on fire, roads were blocked but now such things have become history. This is the success of people of Karachi who rejected them and supported the government to eliminate the outlaws.
"Our law enforcement agencies have bravely crushed them," he said On the occasion Minister for Transport & Information Nasir Shah also spoke and briefed about the features of the VICS and its benefit for the road safety and preservation of environment.