Pensioners protesting against non-payment of pensions at Railway headquarters in Lahore on Tuesday.—Photo by PPI

LAHORE: The cash-starved Railways could not pay pension to majority of its retired employees on Tuesday, the 25th day of non-payment of pension.

The elderly former workers started assembling in front of the bank at PR headquarters early in the morning. A majority of the pensioners who had not been paid over the past two months or so broke into tears when bank employees informed them that funds had not been transferred till 10am.

The situation was no different outside Carriage Shops in Mughalpura, where a large number of pensioners had gathered.

Carrying pension books and cheques that were not honoured, the retired employees held demonstrations in front of the PR headquarters and at Mughalpura for two hours.

Raising slogans against Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, the pensioners called for his immediate resignation.

“Bilour has publicly advocated closing down railways. Should such a person be allowed to head railways?” asked one Yaqoob and protesters answered with a loud ‘no’.

A number of pensioners told Dawn they had not been paid for the past three months and were on the verge of starvation. “Even shopkeepers have stopped giving us edibles on credit,” said Ramazan.

Later, the retired employees burnt used tyres at the main gate of railway headquarters.

Disappointed and fatigued, most protesters had gone home by 1.30pm when bank employees got intimation about transfer of Rs50 million to the pension accounts. However, by the time the protesting pensioners returned, the meagre amount was distributed among those who were waiting for their relatives to pick them up.

The situation forced pensioners to again hold a demonstration for an hour to condemn the treatment meted out by the railway administration to its retired workers.

SERVICES SUPENDED: The shortage of locomotives forced Pakistan Railways to temporarily suspend the operation of more passenger trains on Tuesday, raising the total number to 102.

Out of a fleet of 520 diesel- and electricity-run locomotives, only 74 were operational on Tuesday, an official of PR’s commercial branch said at its headquarters in Lahore.

“We require at least 152 locomotives to operate all 220 passenger trains,” the official said.

Over the last two months or so, the shortage of locomotives has brought railways freight service to a halt because not even a single goods train could leave for upcountry from Karachi over the period.

The Railways has decided to approach the private sector to invest in repairing locomotives and wagons. Initially, the private sector would be asked to invest in repairs and rehabilitation of 100 locomotives and 3,000 freight wagons, the officer said.