Karachi Safe City Project Absence Give Rise to Crime

Karachi Safe City project has remained long-pending for years and the largest city of Pakistan remains wary of criminals as the crime rate has escalated sharply in absence of surveillance cameras.

National Radio and Telecommunications (NRTC) had formulated a plan to bring the metropolis under digital surveillance and shared it with the Sindh government.

However, over 200 million citizens of Karachi have been left at the mercy of criminals who are difficult to be traced in absence of surveillance cameras in multiple locations of the city.

The approval of the establishment of the Sindh Safe City Authority (SSCA) was given by the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

Sindh Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah was tasked to lead the authority.

The members of Information Technology (IT) and home departments along with Inspector General (IG) Sindh police and secretaries of finance, local bodies, excise, and taxation have been included in the authority.

The members of the civil society would also be part of it too.

However, the safe city project in Karachi apparently become a pipe dream for the residents.

Although the closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras are installed in different locations of the city sporadically, they seem inadequate.

Sindh Chief Minister had ordered the installation of CTTV cameras across the largest city of Pakistan too. However, the instructions were thrown into the air.

As per details, under the safe city project, the provincial government had planned to install CCTV cameras in every nook and cranny of Karachi.

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Meager cameras, corresponding to the city’s size, were installed across Karachi in 2019. However, they were not enough to bring the entire city under digital surveillance.

Owing to this condition, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had ordered to put more cameras in different spots of the metropolis under the Karachi safe city project but it remained unexecuted and the crime rate has escalated sharply.

A large portion of the city does not have any CCTVs and the crime rate in Karachi on the rise.

The locals of Karachi feel intimidated in stepping out at any time of the day.

This is because if they get robbed and file complaints, the police cannot find it difficult to trace the criminals without digital evidence.

In this regard, Sindh IT Minister Taimur Talpur told News360 that new CCTV cameras would be installed across the city very soon.

He added that the safe city project is being expanded to bring more areas of Karachi under surveillance and the chief minister is overseeing it.

The minister asserted that the Sindh government had always stayed in lead for the security and protection of citizens.

Taimur asserted that the Sindh government would soon get rid of crime in Karachi.