15 October 2004	Friday	29 Shaban 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 14: The National Assembly was informed on Friday that Pakistan Railways' losses amounted to Rs30.37 billion during the tenures of two former federal ministers, Lt-Gen (retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi and Ghaus Bux Mehr.

The information was put before the house by the federal Minister for Railways, Mian Shamim Haider, in response to a question by MNA Hanif Abbassi who had asked for details of subsidy and the year-wise total losses incurred by Pakistan Railways between July 2000 and June 2004.

The house was informed that during the tenure of Lt Gen (retd) Javed Qazi, the PR suffered losses of Rs16.2 billion. The losses were in addition to Rs10.4 billion subsidy given to Railways by the federal government during 2000-01 and 2001-02.

During the tenure of Ghaus Bux Mehr, losses were Rs2 billion less than those suffered during the tenure of his predecessor. During 2002-03 and 2003-04, the losses amounted to Rs14.16 billion while the government gave a subsidy of Rs16.1 billion to the Railways.

In response to another question, the house was informed that the PR had increased its fares at least on 10 occasions for different classes from 2000 till June 2004.

In a written reply to a question by MNA Hussain Mehanti about the percentage of increase in the fares of Pakistan Railways during the last five years, the House was told that fares for all classes had been increased by more than 30 per cent during the period in question.

In reply to another question by MNA Tasneem Ahmed Qureshi, the minister informed the House that Pakistan Railways spent Rs8.7 million on maintenance and decoration of its various rest houses during the last five years.