LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) has curtailed its freight trains operations as its available fuel stocks deplete fast owing to abnormal expansion and shortage of funds.

The worsening fuel stock situation forced PR to contact Pakistan State Oil (PSO) during Eidul Fitr holidays for ensuring adequate oil supply before Tuesday (June 11, 2019).

“PR has oil reserves for only the next four days. PSO has been requested to ensure provision of adequate supply before Tuesday by all means,” an official source told Dawn on Friday.

“If PSO doesn’t ensure oil supply to PR by Monday evening, situation would be serious,” he warned.

Pakistan Railways is facing such a critical situation after it failed to place oil supply order to PSO keeping in view the shortage of funds that emerged due to payment of salaries and pensions to its present and retired employees before Eid.

Moreover, the PR administration has abnormally expanded its trains operation in recent days without looking into its available oil stocks.

On the other hand, PSO too had stopped oil supply to the PR due to non-payment.

“A cheque amounting to Rs255 million was dispatched to PSO on June 3 that was the last working day ahead of Eid holidays,” the source added.

He said to deal with the situation, PR reduced freight trains operation (Karachi to Lahore — upcountry). “However, these will return to normalcy by Saturday. We are not facing a fuel crisis,” he clarified.

According to another official source, oil stocks at all PR’s divisions (Karachi, Sukkur, Multan, Quetta, Multan, Lahore Rawalpindi and Peshawar) fall under a supply mechanism. Oil supply order is placed from PR Lahore headquarters.

The oil is first supplied to PR Karachi division that also fulfills the needs of Sukkar and Quetta divisions. Similarly, Multan gets oil from PSO’s Mehmood Kot depot that feeds to Lahore with sufficient supply while Lahore despatches oil to Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

“At present, oil stocks at all divisions are low since there is no supply from PSO. However, the situation would normalise within a couple of days,” he added. He said Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid too reached Lahore on Friday night to monitor PR operations.

When contacted, a spokesperson said PSO would ensure oil supply to the PR by Monday. “We are not facing a crisis-like situation and PR operations are going on normally,” she clarified.

She further said the reason behind squeezing freight trains was not fuel shortage. “Usually people don’t book their goods during Eid holidays. So we thought it is better to reduce freight train operations in such a situation,” she claimed.

Meanwhile, the PR administration has also decided to increase fares on all routes keeping in view the massive increase in fuel prices. “A formal notification for increase in fares up to 15 per cent will be issued on Monday,” the official added.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2019