Railways debt reaches Rs 48 billion, says Mehtab
RECORDER REPORT
LAHORE (April 06 2008): Railways Minister Sardar Mehtab Khan Abbasi has said that Pakistan Railways (PR) debt has reached over Rs 48 billion and the organisation has to pay Rs 6 billion annually in the form of interest to various banks.
He also said the Pakistan Railways owes Rs 23 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan and Rs 25 billion to different foreign investor companies. While addressing a press conference, he said faulty polices of PR ministers have demoralised the organisation.
"Sixty-one percent of Railways' units were non-functional, because no attention was given to them in the last 50 years, and no mega project has been undertaken or major investment made in the organisation," he added.
According to him, most of the policies and projects, which deserve urgent attention of the high ups, was the victim of red tapism in the Ministry as well in the Economics Co-ordination Committee (ECC). Despite the prevailing financial crisis faced by Pakistan Railways, it has the potential to come out of the crisis; it has qualified administrative staff, skilled workers and abundance of resources. In a nutshell, this organisation could be made profitable and its image could be restored in the eyes of the passengers.
He also said a comprehensive plan had been chalked out to make the Railways a profitable organisation and target would be achieved by December 31. "Further privatisation of the Pakistan Railways' properties would not be encouraged because it was not in favour of the organisation as well as for the employees. An action plan had also been chalked out to convert the Pakistan Railways into a no-profit-no-loss organisation by the end of this year," he added.
It maintained that PR officers had been directed to mend their ways, as only those officers and workers would remain in the organisation who would work honestly and sincerely. He said they have no plan to increase the fares of the passenger's trains, although fares of other mode of transports have witnessed an increase. "I have strongly rejected the proposal of increasing the fares, which has been proposed to reduce the deficit," he added.
"However, we are considering increasing freight charges that would be acceptable by all. The PR administration has also been directed to make a comprehensive chart to ensure punctuality of trains. It has also been observed that due to political turmoil and riots, PR's signals systems were damaged, which had a severe effect on operations of trains and its timings. However, in future no compromise would be made on trains' timetable," he told the newsmen.
He said developing projects would be expedited and Pakistan Railways would be made in to a revenue generating and customer-facilitating organisation. In response to a question, he said, as a veteran politician there is no place for President Pervez Musharraf in the coming time, because the nation had rejected him and his companions, and soon he has to leave the President House.
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