NA body told: Feasibility report prepared for cleanliness of eight Railways divisions

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways Tuesday was informed that the Pakistan Railways (PR) has prepared a feasibility report for the cleanliness of eight Railways divisions at the cost of Rs 256 million.

Senior officials of the PR while briefing the NA panel here on Tuesday said the Railways had prepared the feasibility report for the cleanliness of its areas through solid waste management companies, which was not bearable by the department due to present financial condition, and the committee directed to look into other options for financial resources.

The panel meeting which was held under the chairmanship of MNA Muhammad Mueen Wattoo to discuss the agenda items related to 'Train Lighting Van' (TL-Van) and Royal Golf Palm and Country Club.

The officials while briefing on the matter related to TL-Van said that the TL-Van is being provided to Sargodha Station to ensure trains stoppage at the platform in a bid to facilitate the people of Sargodha.

They further said that the TL-Van would start its functions from January 25.

Officials of the Railways Ministry said that as the Sargodha Railways station is not existed on the route of the Sir Syed Express train, so the stoppage of the said train over there is not possible, and similarly, the attachment of power engine to Millat Express at Sargodha is also not possible due to the technical reasons, however, TL Van arranged and will be attached with effect from Jan 25th.

As regards the financial position of the Royal Golf Palm and Country Club, the Railways informed that since the management of the said club has been taken over by the Railways, no amount earned by the club is credited in the accounts of Railways in spite of the profit earned by the club from July 2020 to Nov 2020.

The Committee pended the matter till the next meeting for discussion thoroughly in the presence of all the stakeholders.

The recommendations of the previous two meetings have not been issued to the Ministry of Railways as the signed copy of the minutes are still awaited from the office of the Chairman Standing Committee on Railways.

The chairman assured that the signed copy of the minutes are provided today, so the recommendations will be communicated to the Railways for its compliance in the next meeting.

The Committee observed that certain recommendations of the committee are still under the considerations of the Ministry of Railways, asked the ministry of Railways to expedite implementation on the recommendations made by the committee and till the compliance of the recommendations further progress on the report will remain pending.

The Committee was also the briefed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the import and export yard of the Dry port at Chaman as referred on 24th Nov, 2020 to the FBR with the empowerment of focal ministry for conducting the meeting on the issue and report to the Committee for concluded and mutually agreed decisions and finally both the stakeholders i.e. the Ministry of Railways and the FBR agreed on certain terms and conditions framed during the number of meetings.

The Ministry of Railways assured that the NOC to the FBR will be issued within 10 days after going through the matter again.

The meeting was attended by Arbab Amir Ayub, Sheikh Dr Muhammad Afzal Khan Dhandla, Amjad Ali Khan, Tahir Iqbal, Aftab Jehangir, Engr Sabir Hussain Kaim Khani, and Muhammad Hamid Hameed along with officials of the Railways Ministry.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021