Rs163bn allocated for law and order after 26pc increase

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Friday announced a budget of Rs163 billion for the provincial law and order, which shows a 26 per cent increase in comparison to the last year’s outlay of Rs125 billion.

The CM informed the Sindh Assembly that his government had increased the law and order budget from Rs125 billion to Rs163 billion in order to enable workforce expansion, technology adoption, operational capability and on-ground presence.

Shah said the law and order situation in Karachi, which was once synonymous with street crime, had witnessed measurable improvements as vehicular snatchings and theft had gone down from 256 cases daily to 176 cases, and violent robberies had reduced to just 1 incident per day. The detection rate for street crime had risen to 81 per cent, he maintained.

He added that these numbers were not mere statistics as they signified safer roads and revitalised public confidence. In the Kutcha region of Sindh, the CM said, 31 hardened criminals had been neutralised, 400 dacoits arrested and 775 honey trap abduction cases prevented.

He also discussed the government’s measures against the narcotics mafia stating that the aggressive stance against narcotics yielded significant results in 2024-25 as more than 18,000 drug-related cases were registered, over 21,700 arrests made, 83 FIRs lodged for drug peddling on campuses, and 33 online drug dealers arrested.

He said arresting criminals involved in narcotics trade was tantamount to defending the future of our youth. Shah said the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) made 42 strategic arrests. He added that the CTD Fusion Centre had been made operational and due to modernisation of technology, the Sindh Smart Surveillance System (S-4) now operated at 42 toll plazas with AI-powered cameras.

He said the coverage of the Highway Patrol Pilot Project would be soon expanded to 2,153 kilometres with 1,900 officers and 92 patrol vehicles. He also informed the House that the Sindh government was making traffic reforms through faceless e-Ticketing with 550 cameras that will reach 1,300 by December 2025, GPS tracking, mandatory driver education, issuance of over 100,000 e-driving licences in three months, and introduction of a de-merit point system for repeat offenders.

Shah said the government had also been working on modernising the investigations department and strengthening justice delivery. He said 50 Crime Scene Units had been deployed, and over 215 investigation officers trained in modern forensics. The Police Station Record Management System (PSRMS) was now linked to courts and labs and experience in investigation was now a criterion for promotions, he added.

Sharing steps taken by the government for police welfare, the CM said recruitment of over 25,000 cops was under way or completed, and 8,000 officers were promoted in the outgoing year. He also discussed the health insurance scheme for over 15,000 staff with Rs496 billion support.

He said the Shaheed packages now ranged from Rs23.5 million to Rs70 million and Rs1 billion had already been disbursed as compensation. He said 31 model police stations had been established and 50 more were in the pipeline, Rs3.74 billion had been devolved directly to police stations, and SHOs and SIOs had been designated as drawing and disbursing officers for localised decision-making, he added.

He maintained that police reforms that were being currently witnessed were a fundamental transformation that had made the streets safer, the forces more capable, and the communities more secure.