Inordinate delay in fund release: National Assembly body holds Finance Ministry responsible for Railways mess

Shifting all the blames on Finance Minister and Secretary Finance for the current chaotic condition of Pakistan Railways (PR), a parliamentary panel on Monday said that Pakistan Railways was on the verge of collapse due to delay in release of the required funds by Finance Ministry.
The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Railways held responsible the ministry of finance for the current state of the affairs of PR, which, according to the committee, is near collapse. Chairman of the committee Sardar Ayaz Sadiq termed it criminal negligence of the ministry, which could not release the funds in time for repairing and purchasing locomotives along with other inputs to keep its wheel moving.
He said that had the funds been released in time, the PR would not have suffered losses rather it would be earn revenue. The committee was informed that Indian government added 120 locomotives in their railways, while in Pakistan at least 20 to 30 locomotives should be added annually. But during the last 17 years, the government has added just 122 locomotives.
Secretary Railway Arif Muazam informed the committee that PR spent $50 million to $60 million per day over its maintenance while the international standard was $400 million to $500 million. He said during 2009-10, the ministry of finance released only 45 percent funds for repairing purposes, which was further reduced to 33 percent in 2010-11, despite the fact the liability over repairing was increasing with the passage of time, especially due to depreciation of Pak currency against US dollar. He said the PR is still using 56 years old engines (locomotives), due to which the government has to bear heavy maintenance cost.
Federal Minister for PR Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said that many countries wre ready to provide locomotives, but the PPRA rules had became the main hurdles in the transaction. He requested the committee to wave off the PPRA rules for purchasing locomotives so that these could be purchased as early as possible. He said that without induction of locomotives it was near impossible to run PR in profit. The Cabinet had already approved Rs 11.1 billion, but that the ministry of finance did not release a single penny, he informed the committee.
Chairman of the committee Ayaz Sadiq while condemning the ministry of finance's attitude said the ministry did not release Rs 6 billion grants approved for Railway to purchase locomotives. He termed the act as criminal negligence on part of the ministry, adding that the ministry released the funds when a railway pensioner died. Secretary Railways Arif Azeem informed the committee that Railway's revenue would be Rs 14 billion in the on-going year.
The committee further observed that the Ministry of Railways may complete the process of Third Party Forensic Audit/Inspection within two months over the use of contaminated lube oil in locomotives and fix responsibility that caused billions of rupees losses to the national exchequer.
The committee declared it a criminal act and wondered why the responsible were not taken to the task despite conducting two inquiries by the Railway officials in this regard. The Committee was convinced that the act was done intentionally to purchase new locomotives for getting commissions/kickbacks. The Committee also directed the Ministry to provide the copy of the report, which the Ministry would submit to the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the status/ conditions of existing Locomotives.
Earlier, the Committee expressed concern over the increasing incidents of encroachments on Railways land and directed the management to devise a comprehensive policy to identify/categorise the Railways land into Commercial and "Katchi Abadies"; and present its report before the Committee till January 20, 2012 for examination and to decide future course of action. The Committee was informed that on the directives of the Committee, the Railways had retrieved 273 acres from the encroachers, so far. The Committee asked the officials to provide the details in the next meeting.
The meeting was attended by Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Minister for Railways, Ramesh Lal, Nauman Islam Sheikh, Dr Talat Mahesar, Muhammad Afzal Sandhu, Rana Abdul Sattar, Pir Muhammad Aslam Bodla, Raheela Baloch, Farzana Mushtaq Ghani, Dr Muhammad Ayub Sheikh, Haji Rozuddin, Abid Sher Ali, Imrana Saeed Jamil and senior officials of Ministry of Railways.