ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on the request of the Planning Commission on Thursday granted four weeks for restructuring of the Pakistan Railways. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, heard a suo moto regarding bad condition of the railways.

The court besides seeking report from the Planning Commission about restructuring of the Railways, directed the railways secretary and the Sindh government to submit a report about the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR).

The bench in the last hearing had ordered the Planning Commission to file a report about the restructuring of the railways, and had asked the Sindh government to ensure completion of overhead and underground passages on green line at Nazimabad and Urdu University, expeditiously, in order to enable the KCR operation.

During the course of proceedings, the chief justice noted that the bridge constructed by the Britishers at Kotri is still in good condition, while the Karachi-Hyderabad bridge could collapse at any moment. He said: "There is no bridge on the Indus River that the nation can be proud of."

"The bridges built during the Ayub Khan era were still in better condition, whereas, all the bridges constructed thereafter are in a dilapidated state," he added.

The railways secretary stated that Package-I of the Main Line (ML-1) would be completed in three years, wherein, state-of-the-art bridges would be constructed.

The chief justice said three years was too long a period. The chief justice said: "The Chinese lay railway lines in months," adding if funds were available, then the project should not take time to complete. Laying a track of 1,800kms is not a problem for China. The CJP emphasized; "Good bridges should be built for ML-1."

Karachi Commissioner told to court that a tender had been issued for fencing of railway stations in Karachi. The chief justice in the last hearing had expressed grave concern over the overall condition of the railways.

He had said it was not being operated as per the railways' rules and manual; therefore, accidents were taking place frequently in which precious lives were lost and great damage was caused to the railways.

The court had observed that the people at the helm of the affairs did not know what they had to do. He had said not only infrastructure of the railways was altogether bad and non-workable, but its employees apparently were not fit to operate trains.

There is a need for the government to take serious steps and overhaul the Secretariat from top to bottom in order to ensure that Railways operate safely. The case was adjourned for one month.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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