ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of ‘corrupt practices’ at check posts established on major highways of the country and issued a directive to reduce security pickets.
“There is rampant rent seeking from goods transport in the country by plethora of agencies/entities such as Police, Excise, Customs, Rangers, FC, Coast Guard etc, through the mechanism of check posts established at National Highways i.e. Karachi – Torkhum route and Karachi – Chaman route,” stated the notice issued from the PM Secretariat.
The directive stated that the extortion by law enforcement agencies (LEAs) creates inconvenience for the public, corrupts the society and brings a ‘bad name’ name to the country and government machinery.
“This exercise of getting illegal gratification and extortion is ample proof of either weak supervisory regime or implied condonation/ connivance of this activity,” the notice said.
“It can be safely presumed that the money so collected through illegal means is shared with the upper hierarchy at different levels.”
Taking stern notice of the illegal practices, the premier has directed authorities concerned to exercise the following no later than October 5.
- SOPs be revised/developed by respective organisation/government to check and root out this problem.
- Number of check posts be reduced where possible and rationalised in coordination with other stakeholders/organisations who have established check posts nearby and be converted into multi-agency common check posts.
- Supervisory role be made effective.
The directive also stated that if the task is not completed in the given time frame, action will be taken against officials of the relevant department.
“In cases where no action is taken against the supervisory officer by the concerned administrative officer, action will be initiated against chief secretaries / IGs / DGs as the case may be,” the notice added.
