LAHORE: The Senate Standing Committee on Railways on Monday declared that the Pakistan Railways (PR) deal with a private party pertaining to its Golf Club was by no means a transparent transaction and the contract should be revoked.

Presided over by Senator Sardar Fateh Muhammad Hassani, the committee at a meeting at the PR Headquarters in Lahore resolved to hold an inquiry into the Sandak railway track scam.

Expressing satisfaction over improvement in the operational performance of railways, the senators termed it a good omen that people had now started preferring rail over road transport while PR freight turnover was also increasing.

Ironically, the committee members continued seeking for more than an hour record of railways submissions in the Supreme Court in the Golf Club case.

Seeks cancellation of contract, vows to conduct a probe

However, Railways Board Chairperson Perveen Agha, Legal Directorate Director-General Tahir Pervaiz and Land Directorate Director Arshad Islam Khattak failed to provide satisfactory answers to the queries of the committee members.

It was Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafique who came to the rescue of both the committee members and his subordinates in the middle of the meeting by assuring the standing committee that copies of whatever proposals railways had submitted in the Supreme Court on its (apex court’s) direction would be provided to the senators well before its next meeting.

The minister ruled out any out-of-court settlement in the Golf Club case while urging the Supreme Court to decide the matter at the earliest.

Senators Taj Haider, Mrs Zahida Khan, retired Lt-Gen Salahuddin Tirmizi, Hafiz Hamdullah, Taj Muhammad Afridi, Sardar Azam Khan Musakhel and Samina Abid resolved to hold an inquiry into the matter to find out as to how the Sandak track, laid by the ministry of petroleum and natural resources, was “stolen”.

They also sought details of the Sandak track agreement and the No-Objection Certificate railways issued before or after execution of the project.

The meeting was informed that there had been a policy shift in the auction of railways scrap. Instead of transporting all the scrap to Lahore, it was now being collected and auctioned near the places of its generation, it was told.

The meeting also offered condolences to senior journalist Asif Masud Raza over the death of his father and offered fateha for the departed soul.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2015