The government has authorised Pakistan Railways' administration to increase passenger fares only after giving solid reasons, justification and taking elected representatives into confidence.
Railways should consult elected representatives of concerned constituencies before suspending operation of a train on a specific route, otherwise, a privilege motion would be moved in Parliament, said National Assembly's Standing Committee on Railways chairman Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Saturday.
"There will be no down sizing. The railways administration is talking about sacking 20,000 temporary labourers and as many low-grade employees. There will be no need to deprive anyone of his job if Railways check pilferage, thefts and cut down perks of its officers,"
Talking to journalists after presiding over a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee's Special Committee on Railways, PML-N MNA Ayaz Sadiq said that officers would be the first to come under axe if down sizing was needed. He said the PAC was unanimous that no low-grade employee would be allowed to be sacked.
Regarding Railways announcement to close down 36 passenger trains, he said that the Lahore High Court had already dismissed the PR petition in this regard.
"The matter is in Supreme Court now. How can they do so? Railways is a national institution and asset. We cannot afford its closure as its more than 78,000 employees will be on streets and our road infrastructure is not capable of accommodating all the 80 million rail passengers," he added.
to a question he said that Railways administration had also been directed to repair 145 locomotives before purchasing new one. He further said that six billion rupees are required for the repair and maintenance of out of order locomotives. Earlier, he presided over a meeting which was attended by other members of the committee, PR and FIA officials and reviewed the previous annual audit reports of the department.
It may be mentioned here that Pakistan Railways had announced increase in fares from 10 percent to 30 percent for passengers and had stated that the decision would be implemented after consultation with Ministry of Finance and Special Committee of the Public Accounts Committee on Pakistan Railways. The PR had also proposed the removal of 20,000 workers to bring out the department from the prevailing economic crisis.
Railways officials should control corruption, unnecessary expenditures instead of sacking workers, Sardar observed. However, Sardar maintained that if the sacking was necessary, it should be started from the higher level. "How we could deprive thousands of workers from their livelihood without justification," he added. He said that railway was the most economical and affordable means of transport and a national asset and "we would not allow shutting down the department at any cost."
He said that that he would call a meeting of the finance secretary, the chairman planning division and the chairman PR on the issue. Responding to a question, he said that none from the previous government had tried to rectify the situation of Railways.
He said the government had approved Rs 13 billion as PSDP but just Rs 1.2 billion was released in the last six months. He requested the government to release the rest of the amount to PR if it wanted to save it. Embezzlement of 11 radiators in Rawalpindi division was also discussed in the meeting and the committee gave 15 days to the PR and police to take action against people involved in the embezzlement.
Regarding embezzlement in selling scrap, Federal Investigation Agency informed the committee that it had recovered Rs 50 million and other amount would also be recovered soon. The committee had warned and directed the PR administration not to close any train without consulting the elected members such as the MNA of the areas/section.