LAHORE: National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways Chairman, Muhammad Mueen Wattoo has said that it is time for the Railways administration to show some improvement in its working.
Presiding over the meeting held at the PR Headquarters here on Friday, he said that effective measures should be taken for the betterment of railways. Earlier, PR Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad informed the committee that all unmanned railway gates would be removed after 45 days under the CPEC project. He said after completion of ML-1 project, all kinds of crossings at the track would be removed and a fence would be constructed on both sides of the track.
To a question by a member of the committee, he said the railway was ready to outsource all its hospitals and educational institutions as these departments were burden on the railways. Answering the questions of the committee members, PR Chief Executive Officer, Nisar Ahmad Memon said that all suspended stop-over of all the trains would be restored to the pre-coronavirus position.
To a question about the railway lands, PR Chairman, Habib-ur-Rehman Gilani said that the PR was working on evacuating its properties from the land grabbers. He said so far 25 big properties were being outsourced on public-private partnership basis.
PR Police IG, Arif Nawaz gave a detailed briefing about the railways police and said that the PR police was facing lack of funds. He said salaries and pay scales of the PR police should be rationalized according to the salaries of the other police departments and equal status should be given to the PR Police. The committee members appreciated the IG on presenting the actual picture of utility and the requirements of railway police.
PR General Manger for Workshops, Shahid Aziz and Chief Officer Stores, Azam Ghafoor also gave the briefings about their departments. Before discussing the regular agenda of the meeting, members committee Ch M Hamid Hameed, Amjad Ali Khan and others said the ministry of railways should reconsider the cases of lessee of railways shops across the country whose business was suffered due to the pandemic issue of COVID-19 and to formulate its policy for providing relief on which the committee agreed on formation of a new sub-committee to see the matter.
MNAs Pir Syed Fazal Ali Shah Gilani, Muhammad Khan Daha, Nusrat Waheed, M Ali Pervaiz, Ch M Hamid Hameed, Abdul Wasay, Tahir Iqbal, Aftab Jahangir, M Afzal Khan Dhandla, Amjad Ali Khan were also present.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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