LAHORE: Changing earlier decision of suspending its Chief Operating Superintendent (COPS) Amir Ali Baloch from service in the wake of a freight train accident near Rahim Yar Khan, the Pakistan Railways (PR) on Monday transferred him to the post of director legal affairs, Karachi.

However, the PR didn’t mention the reason for the decision for transferring the BPS-20 officer who also headed a three-member fact-finding committee, constituted earlier to probe the train accident, which was dissolved on Saturday (April 6). Besides Mr Baloch, four other senior officers were also reshuffled through a notification.

Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid, in his press conference on April 6, had told the journalists about his decision of dissolving the committee and suspension of Mr Baloch from service and constituting a new probe body, headed by PR chairman/federal secretary Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Despite being asked by the reporters, the minister had not mentioned the reasons for dissolution of the probe committee, suspension of Mr Baloch and launch of a fresh probe. The earlier body had completed its inquiry and was about to submit its report on Saturday.

Transfers him to Karachi

According to the notification, issued by the secretary (railways board) that mentions the transfer of Mr Baloch, the PR also transferred Shoaib Adil, another BPS-20 officer, from the post of director legal affairs (PR headquarters) and appointed him as chief terminal manager (Dry Ports, Lahore) vice Waqar Ahmad Shahid (BPS-20) who was transferred and posted as COPS. Mr Hafeezulah (BPS-19), working as in-charge of the PMU (PR), was entrusted with the additional charge of director (properties & land) relieving Syed Asif Mateen Zaidi of the charge.

The PR, on April 3, had suspended deputy divisional superintendent (Sukkur) Qasim Zahoor, Permanent Way Inspector (Khanpur) Suhail Zia and Head Train Examiner (Khanewal) Amjad Shehzad from service for their alleged negligence that led to the train’s derailment. It had constituted a three-member committee comprising COPS Amir Baloch, Chief Mechanical Engineer Rahat Mirza and Chief Engineer (open line) Nisar Memon but it was dissolved on April 6 on the orders of the minister.

“The minister had made decision of suspending Mr Baloch from service in haste and it had no legal, technical and moral justification. That’s why some senior officers counseled him to avoid doing so. Though he agreed to the suggestion against suspension of service but he didn’t retain Mr Baloch as COPS (PR headquarters) for the reasons best known to him,” an official source told Dawn.

“If there is no fault on the part of Mr Baloch, the PR should not have issued his transfer orders,” the source added.

It may be recalled that before constitution of the committee, a very first report, which is called joint certificate (JC) in the railway terms, had identified three reasons that led to the derailment – weak track, flaws in train marshalling (a job of making sequence of the bogies), loose joint on the track that should have been tightened with nuts and bolts. The technical staff also mentioned buckling of the track at the time of passing of the train that finally led to its derailment. However, the three-member committee rejected this JC after it received a technical report about data recording equipment (black box) installed in the engine. According to the equipment report, which explained each and every movement of the engine, it transpired that the driver didn’t apply brakes. The brakes were automatically applied after the pressure pipe, which connected all wagons with each other, broke following derailment of some of the bogies. And had he immediately applied brakes, he might have averted this, sources said.

Minister Sheikh Rashid and PR’s chief executive officer were not available for comments.

Published in Dawn, April 09th, 2019