Pakistan Railways (PR) on Friday restored suspended train services after resumption of diesel supply from Pakistan State Oil (PSO). The PR received two trains of diesel from PSO carrying 1.3 million-litre after paying Rs179 million to the later, sources said here on Friday.
The PR on Thursday paid Rs179 million to PSO, while it has still to pay Rs912 million. As, approximately Rs1091 million of PSO was owed by PR due to which the former threatened to suspend fuel supply. PR gave four cheques worth Rs297 million to the PSO, but those cheques could not be cashed due to non-availability of adequate amount in the account.
Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour on July 18 had announced that fuel stock of PR would exhaust in the next three days and PR would not be able to ply the trains on the existing routes. After the announcement train services on many routs were suspended due to shortage of fuel.
The government on July 19 released Rs2 billion to PR against its demand of Rs3.5 billion to ease the financial woes of Railways. PSO spokesperson told Business Recorder that fuel supply to PR was not suspended, but there was an issue of payment. He confirmed that PR has paid Rs 179 million to the PSO. He further said that PSO supplied 493,216 liters on July 18 while 1,318,620 liters have been supplied on July 21 to Railways.