KARACHI, Aug 1: Pakistan Railways is considering registering a case against the ticketing contractor of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) who according to the KCR has defaulted on payments, which could force suspension of the service. Well-placed sources in the railways said that a contract was awarded to M/s Mass Communications of Rs3.6 million per year. The contractor had deposited Rs360,000 as security amount after a delay of three months. They said that for violating sections of the contract, the contractor was fined but he failed to make payments.

Besides, the sources said the contractor was required to pay Rs900,000 every three months. He deposited two cheques which were not honoured by the bank. One cheque (No C/D0074853 dated 27-06-2005) was of Rs900,000 and the other one (No C/D0074319 dated 20-07-2005) was for Rs225,000.

The sources said that the railway authorities took serious notice of the default and issued notices to the contractor that if payment was not made at the earliest, two separate FIRs would be registered against him.

Sources said that the PR had been spending diesel and staff salaries on KCR service and in return it had been getting nothing. The matter was taken up with the higher authorities in the railway headquarters, Lahore. They expressed apprehensions that if the railways would fail to recover the amount, it would suffer heavy losses and the KCR service may have to be suspended consequently.

They said that the owner of the M/s Mass Communications, Jawed Iqbal, disappeared and did not meet the railway officials since he was warned by the railway authorities of making payments otherwise action would be taken against him. However, his son appeared before the officials on Monday and deposited Rs325,000 in cash to avoid registration of the case.

The railway authorities were not satisfied with the amount deposited to the railway as the principal amount was still pending. “We have got the amount of fine imposed on the contractor but he has failed to make payments of the principal amount”, a railway official said on condition of anonymity.

He said that owing to the lethargic attitude of the firm, the railway authorities were considering filing a case against it to recover the outstanding dues.

Sources said that a private company had installed four computers in the office of the contractor, rented out by the railways on the premises of the cantonment railway station. However, the contract firm has not paid its rent.

The said private company had installed computers in the office and 30 Electronic Ticket Printing Machines one in each coach. The contract firm had still not made its payment of Rs500,000 to the service provider.

President of Pakistan Railway Workers Federation Manzoor Razi demanded of the President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to constitute an inquiry into the matter and make its findings public.

He said that the railways had been suffering losses to run the KCR as the contract firm had not made payments to the railways.

Mr Razi asked the railway authorities to take over the KCR service, instead of suffering recurring losses in terms of ticketing at the hands of the private contractor.