May 19, 2006	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1427

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LAHORE, May 18: The Railway Golf Club deal was by no means a transparent transaction and it benefited the lessee instead of the organisation, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways was of the consensus at its meeting held at the PR headquarters on Thursday.

“The deal was aimed at reducing the expenditure and to retire the railway debt but the documents presented before the committee by the railway officers proved it did not meet both the objectives,” two members of the committee told this reporter after the meeting.

The financial implications of the deal were not sought before awarding the contract to a Malaysian consortium and the financial adviser and chief accounts officer (FA&CAO) seconded this assertion of State Minister Ishaq Khan Khakwani during the meeting.

The meeting was told the FA&CAO also attended the meeting of the PR board executive committee that finalised the deal. “The mandate of the executive committee is to handle day-to-day operational issues and not matters like leasing out property worth over Rs6 billion,” Mr Khakwani said.

The committee was informed the company received Rs600,000 to Rs1,500,000 as joining fee from each of around 1,600 members but deposited only Rs1,700,000 with the railways. The committee was also to construct a five-star hotel at the Golf Club within a year and pay a penalty of $1 million in case of failure to do so. The answer was in negative when Mr Khakwani asked did the company pay the penalty as even the foundation stone of the facility had not been laid.

The marketing director told the meeting a brief was sent to the railways ministry that did not supply the same to the committee members. Expressing displeasure, the committee directed the ministry to provide the same in future well in time.

The committee was informed the federal cabinet rectified the deal but the railway officers did not have the document like other papers. Failure of railway officers to give satisfactory answers to the queries of the members of the committee about awarding contract of the Golf Course forced Railways chairman Shakil Durrani to summon Marketing Deputy Director Sumaira Hameed, who replied to the questions of the committee members.

Standing Committee Chairman Sardar Tufail Ahmad advised the railway officers not to hide facts and figures from the members, otherwise it would be conceived that some officers were involved in receiving the kickbacks. However, Mr Durrani assured the committee members that railways was not hiding anything from them.

The committee unanimously decided to give the railway ministry another chance to supply complete documents about the deal at another meeting for reaching final conclusion in this regard. The committee also decided to cancel its meeting scheduled for Friday (today).

The committee members were surprised to know that the railways finalised a deal last month with a Chinese firm for the purchase of 300 flat-bed or high-capacity wagons, at $4,608 less than the freight on board (FOB) per piece price of similar 1,300 coaches it had purchased from another company of China some four years ago.

The committee and the railway administration agreed to stop deduction of house repair allowance from the BS-1 to BS-6 employees whose basic pay was more than Rs3,000. Instead, deduction will now be made from the salaries of the employees whose basic pay is more than Rs7,040. It was decided that the railway ministry would send recommendations to the finance ministry in this regard for approval.

“The decision, if implemented, will benefit around 80,000 railway employees who are in BS-1 to BS-6,” said Sardar Ayaz Sadiq who raised the issue.

He said the ceiling for deduction of house repair allowance was not revised after 1993.

The NA body and the railways also agreed, in principal, to award the Rs425 monthly medical allowance to the temporary labour (TLA) of all pay scales. “At present, only TLA in BS-2 get the benefit because of a typographical mistake by a clerk of the finance ministry,” said the Sardar.

The committee also congratulated Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on becoming the railway minister. Mr Sheikh is on a foreign tour with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Other members of committee who attended the meeting were Saeed Virk, Syed Gulzar Sibtain Shah, Begum Shahnaz Sheikh, Anwar Bhutto, Tasneem Qureshi, Ms Nasim Akhtar Chaudhry, Dr Nisar Ahmad, Farooq-i-Azam Malik, Qazi Hameedullah Khan, Chaudhry Asim Nazir and Abdus Sattar Afghani. Dev Das and Rana Umer Nazir Khan also attended the meeting on a special invitation.

General Manager (Operations) Saleemur Rahman Akhoond and other senior officers also attended the meeting.