'Valuable Railways land will not be declared Katchi Abadis'

National Assembly's standing committee on Railways convenor Begum Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry said that the valuable railways land would not be declared Katchi Abadis. While briefing the media after chairing the standing committee's meeting at Railways Headquarters here on Thursday, she said that she would resist if the government decided to move out from its property by handing over it to land grabbers.
She disclosed that mafias in consent with the railways officers had occupied about 70 percent land of the utility. "Soon a comprehensive report on rail property would be prepared and would be presented it before Prime Minister for taking strict actions against the land grabbers," she added".
In response to a question she said that the government was inclined to declare some land into Kachi Abadis, she stressed that she would resist any decision in this regard until she lived. It is worth mentioning here that the railways minister, top management were not interested for vacating the thousands of acre land from the land grabbers. Both, on several times, declared that the rail was meant for plying trains and that the department had noting to do with the 'real state business.' Hundreds of cases about illegal occupation of the rail land are pending with the courts, besides each province claims that it is not the federal government but province is the real owner of the property.
Ms Nasim said that all the divisional officers (DSs) were present in the meeting and they had been strictly told to leave the railways if they could not protect the department's interests.
Nasim Akhtar further said the PR's marketing cells badly failed to fulfil its responsibilities and turned into a hub of corruption. She regretted the lawyers on the legal panel of the railways had been recording statement in the courts against the department's interests. She said that she directed the authorities for writing letters to the bar associations for the cancellation of their licences.
Responding anther question in context of Wednesday's mishap in which the PR deprived from 4,000 kg copper wires of worth more than Rs three million from a rail bogie, the MNA said that that she believed the railways officer involved in the crime. PR officers were taking salaries of billions on every month, but their performance was zero, she held. She told the media that she felt the railways general manger disappointed on the affairs running in the utility. The GM during the meeting admitted the faults within the utility and he requested all the DSs to be honest and work for the betterment of the department, she said.
Ms Nasim said that an inquiry into theft of 11 radiators from the PR locomotives worth millions of rupees revealed that the radiators were not stolen rather these were misappropriated and placed in another two engines. Later, the PR staff sold them by including them into scrap, she concluded.