December 18, 2007	Tuesday	Zilhaj 7, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Dec 17: The Senate Standing Committee on Railways on Monday constituted a sub-committee to investigate hundreds of recruitments made in the Pakistan Railways (PR) over the past two years.

The sub-committee headed by Senator Naseem Hussain Chatta will determine whether rules were followed while making the appointments, reported to be in hundreds and in multiple categories.

As the minister of railway Shaikh Rashid Ahmed was accused of having recruited a large number of people from his constituency in Rawalpindi.

The standing committee meeting held in the Parliament House was presided over by Senator Kamil Ali Agha.

Committee’s members expressed concerns over the deficit of the PR and said it was being met by selling PR’s prime land in various parts of the country.

Some members were of the view that the matter aroused suspicions and needed investigation to ascertain whether there was any land scam.

They said the PR faced a financial crisis, but it did not mean that the railways’ prime land should be disposed of without trying to solve the issue with stringent budgetary measures.

They suggested that the trains which had been persistently running in loss should be stopped and operational costs trimmed.

The PR budget deficit widened over the past two years because of a sharp increase in oil prices in the international market.