February 15, 2008	Friday	Safar 07, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 14: Pakistan Railways on Thursday launched three new fast freight trains from Karachi — two for Peshawar and one for Quetta-Chaman — for transportation of the goods in transit to Afghanistan (GITA).

The caretaker Federal Minister for Railways, Mansoor Tariq, formally inaugurated the new freight trains at Cantonment Railway Station. Talking to journalists, he said that the project was aimed at boosting the railways revenue. He said that the project would help the railways generate revenue of around Rs3 million on a daily basis.

The minister said that the railways could generate revenue mainly through freight operations. He said that the caretaker government was making all-out efforts for the uplift of the railway department.

Speaking about the recent measures taken by the ministry, he said that operation of eleven different trains had been stopped as these trains were causing losses to the tune of Rs180 million to the department annually.He said that two mega-projects costing Rs11 billion, introduction of electronic signalling system at Khanewal-Shahdra junction and procurement of 300 new freight wagons, had also been planned.

Highlighting various achievements of the caretaker government, the minister said that the present setup had retrieved precious land worth Rs4.28 billion in 15 days from their illegal occupants.

He said that the PR had been spending Rs260 million on the maintenance of its hospitals. Now, these hospitals would be leased out to the private sector to curtail expenditures, he said, adding that a tender had already been awarded in this regard.

With these and other measures, the railway department would be able to gain strong footing, the minister said. He said that efforts were also being made to reduce the State Bank of Pakistan’s overdraft.

Referring to the huge losses incurred as a result of the violence that had erupted after the assassination of PPP leader Benazir Bhutto, he said that it was not the work of the ordinary people or political workers but was a pre-planned scheme to de-link Karachi with the rest of the country. He said that the damages caused to the department’s property had been assessed at Rs11 billion.

The minister also announced the resumption of the Karachi Express from Feb 15, which was closed down after the Dec 27 riots.

Mr Tariq said that the Pakistan State Oil had also increased its demand and now the PR would transport about 140,000 tons of oil which would increase the department’s annual income by Rs1.5 billion.

He said that negotiations with other companies including, a new steel mills in Karachi were also in process. A foreign-based group would set up steel mills in Karachi and the PR would provide it with freight services. After the agreement, four to five freight trains would run daily, providing revenue of over Rs1 billion, he claimed.

The minister said that although political recruitments had been made in PR during the past, but depriving people of their jobs would not be a justified step. Despite the fact that around 2,000 to 2,500 workers got retired every year, we had imposed a ban on fresh recruitments to overcome the problem of overstaffing, he said.

The minister also performed the ground-breaking of a project for the rehabilitation of the track from Karachi to Kotri at Landhi Railway Station. Speaking on the occasion, he said that project for the rehabilitation of railway tracks from Karachi-Kotri had to be completed by June 2007, but it became a victim of the apathy of the relevant authorities

He announced a raise in the salaries of the daily-wagers working on these tracks to further expedite the pace of the project. —APP/PPI