The Pakistan Railways has earned Rs 9,082 million, which is Rs 477 million more than Rs 8,604 million the target fixed for six-month period, ending on December 31. This was disclosed by Federal Minister for Railways Shamim Siddiqui here on Thursday, while briefing mediamen about the performance of the Pakistan Railways in finance sector.
Shamim Siddiqui told the reporters that the total savings during these six months totalled Rs 1,738 million, and added: "We had a target of expenditure of Rs 8,181 million during this period, while we have saved Rs 27 million in this head by spending Rs 8,154 million", he added.
He said that the overdraft of the Railways from State Bank of Pakistan was decreased by Rs 704 million. The total overdraft of Railways was Rs 14 billion.
He said that the another financial achievement of the Railways was that it had saved Rs 1,024 of the government in the head of subsidy being given to the Railways.
"We have received less subsidy and I am sure that with the passage of time the Railways would not receive subsidy from government", he added.
"It is after a long time that the Pakistan Railways has earned profit, besides providing better communication facilities to people", the minister said, adding that the Railways had succeeded in restoring the confidence of the general public to use the Railways as their communication link.
He said that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, soon after taking over, gave him a target to streamline the matters of the Pakistan Railways and turn it into a profitable organisation. "I along with my team did it and the targets given by the premier were successfully achieved", he added.
The minister admitted that more than 8,500 people were unlawfully appointed in the Pakistan Railways by previous minister Ghaus Bakhsh Maher. "Two committees were formed to look into the matter and sack all those people," he said, and added that these committees would submit their reports in 45 days.
He said that the present government took bold steps to make the Pakistan Railways a profitable organisation. "It is the need of the hour that the mistakes of the past should be rectified and new strategy for the better future should be made," he said.
Siddiqui dispelled the impression of privatisation of the Pakistan Railways, and said that this organisation, after hectic efforts, was turned into a profitable one. "Why we privatise it. In my opinion, the organisations suffering losses should be privatised", he added.
He said the government was looking forward to make the Railways a corporation to avoid various procedural hurdles in the progress of this important organisation. "There are a lot of procedural bottlenecks and hurdles, which are haunting the performance of this organisation", he said.
In response to a question about the trade unions in the Railways, the minister said that the ban on unions would continue as it was in best interest of the organisation.
Later, the minister took the journalists to the newly launched railcar, plying between Lahore and Rawalpindi.
"It is a big achievement of the Pakistan Railways, which has received a lot of appreciation from general public," said the minister.
He said that with the passage of time fast and express trains would be introduced. Secretary and Chairman of Pakistan Railways Shakil Durrani and other high officials were present on the occasion.
Comments
Comments are closed.