ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: Efforts are being made to provide modern facilities to the commuters of the Pakistan Railways, said Federal Minister for Communications and Railways Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi at a meeting held here on Tuesday.

He said that the railways had obtained cooperation of the private sector to improve its services and was using its resources to increase its income.

The minister, who presided over the meeting, said that reforms in the railways were bringing about encouraging outcomes.

The PR was gradually returning its loan to the State Bank, he said and added that the PR had returned three billion rupees to the SBP in 2001.

Mr Qazi called for constant contacts among the departments concerned for the financial restructuring of the railways. Concrete steps, he said, had been taken to control the deficit of railways.

He said that in order to introduce discipline in the financial affairs of the railways, the restructuring process was under way.

He asked railway officials to take all possible steps to improve the financial matters so that the PR could become a profit-making department.

Financial Advisor Arfan Akhtar said the Pakistan Railways needed cooperation of the State Bank to discipline its financial affairs.

He demanded that like the employees of other government departments, pensions to the retired railway employees be paid from the national exchequer.

Railways Chairman and Communication Secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Saeed uz Zafar, General Manager (M&S) Maj Gen (retd) Hamid Hassan Butt, Khurshid Ahmad Khan, Railways Board Secretary Brig Umar and Joint Director Raja Nasir attended the meeting.—APP