Daily Times

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways Wednesday asked the authority concerned to analyze the feasibility of transportation of fuel, gypsum and other materials via freight trains in order to uplift revenue of the department. The body under the chairmanship of Muhammad Mueen Wattoo, MNA in which Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakistan Railways Arshad Salam Khatak briefed the committee on the financial challenges faced by Pakistan Railways and gave a detailed briefing on other matters. The CEO mentioned that Railways was the only Ministry that managed its expenditure, including salary and pension pay-outs by the revenues it generated, rather than relying on the government.

Amid the prevailing economic situation, he said the revenue of Pakistan Railways from passengers has declined by 20 per cent, whereas, the freight revenue, in which the transportation of coal to Sahiwal power plant, which generates 320 Mega Watts of electricity, also showed a downward trend. Arshad Islam said the department showed concern over the matter, as it depicts that passengers were not using travel by rail, which is less costly as compared to another source of transportation, more expensive modes of travel, revealing an underlying issue of below-par services.

The committee showed a resolve to travel by rail for a trial journey to probe into the matter.

Upon the request from the Ministry, the body pledged to take up the matter of either allocation of a budget Rs 20 billion or relief from payment of pensions (which would then be paid by the Federal Government) with the government. The committee also recommended that the federal government should provide clarity on the mission statement of the Ministry of Railways, whether was it a profit-making entity or a social service. Regarding rape incident of a girl at Okara Railway Station, the Ministry provided the details of the incident and intimated that the perpetrators have been caught and other staff on duty at the time had been suspended for their negligence. The committee showed concern for the contract made for Railways School near Kala Pull Karachi, a video of which emerged on social media, showing that female students were made to do janitorial tasks. The Ministry explained that the administrative control of the school was given to a third party due to the inability of the department to maintain the school due to financial constraints.

The body identified that the administrative control was transferred through a non-competitive and politically driven process, and demanded that the contract should be declared null and void, and a competitive process should be introduced through advertisement on immediate basis.

On the issue of encroachment on the land of Railways in Zhob, the Ministry informed that the matter was sub-judice. The meeting was attended by Ali Pervaiz, Muhammad Khan Daha, Ch. Muhammad Hamid Hameed, Engr. Sabir Hussain Kaim Khani, Ch. Muhammad Hamid Hameed, Nauman Islam Shaikh, Dr. Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla and Ramesh Lal. Moreover, Qadir Khan Mandokhail, MNA/Mover of the Calling Attention Motion attended the meeting. The senior officers from the Ministry of Railways, Pakistan Railways and Railways Police were also present in the meeting.