Railways suffered Rs 79.09 million loss in three years, National Assembly told

The government on Wednesday informed National Assembly that Pakistan Railways suffered a loss of Rs 79.093 million during the last three years. This was informed by Minister for Railways Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour during question hour. Giving details of the reasons responsible for the losses, he said Pakistan Railways, being a public service/commercial entity, does not function purely on commercial basis, as it has to operate un-remunerative lines in the larger interest of the country.
He said the less availability of locomotives was badly affecting the freight operations, which was the main source of earning for Pakistan Railways, adding that for the last two months no freight was made operational due to lack of locomotives.
The other reasons of the losses included increase in salary of government employees, relief provided to pensioners and increasing cost of fuel and electricity, etc, contributed to the losses, he added. To another, question, the minister told the House that at present only 144 of 494 locomotives are in working condition. He said it was a fact that 293 locomotives were ineffective and 57 locomotives were temporarily deleted on account of imported/local spare parts. These locomotives are held up due to non-availability of spares parts in the last 3-4 years for the reason of inadequate funding from the government, he added.
He said the allocation of Rs 3046.625 million for repair and maintenance of locomotives has not been according to the requirement necessary to keep the locomotives in fit condition. However, he added that the allocation would have to be curtailed due to increase in salary and pension expense as announced in Budget 2011-12, as was the case in previous year. To another query, the minister told the House that 79 pairs of passenger trains have been discontinued during last three years. On availability of locomotives, the trains will be restored according to priority, he added.