LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday appointed Aijaz Buriro, Assistant General Manager (Mechanical), as chief executive officer (CEO)/senior general manager of the Pakistan Railways — an important federal government department facing severe operational challenges for the last six months or so.

A grade-21 officer of the PR service, Mr Buriro, who will be retiring within next six months, is considered close to Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad who had reportedly conveyed the premier about his choice after a summary comprising names of six senior most PR officials was moved by the railways ministry some 15 days back, ahead of the retirement date (Sept 15) of CEO Muhammad Aftab Akbar — an officer of the PR group of the Central Superior Services (CSS) from 12th Common Training Programme (CTP).

“Finally, Mr Buriro, who is very close to the minister, has been appointed as the PR chief. Now let’s see what he will do to rid the PR of the prevailing operational crisis — derailments, accidents, faulty signaling system, severe shortage of coaches, manpower and funds, procurement of new coaches, technical issues in the locomotives, coordination, trust deficit etc,” a source in the railways told Dawn.

He was the junior most among competitors

According to a notification issued by the railways ministry, the prime minister approved the summary on Sept 18, appointing Mr Buriro as chief executive officer, a BPS-22 slot.

“Consequent upon approval of the PM, Mr Aijaz Ahmad Buriro, a BS-21 official of mechanical engineering department, presently working as the AGM (Mechanical), is transferred and posted as CEO/SGM (BPS-22) in his own pay and scale with effect from Sept 15 and till availability of regular BS-22 incumbent,” the notification reads.

The source said among his six competitors, Mr Buriro was last on the seniority list. He will be retiring during the first week of January next year, on attaining superannuation.

“The others whose names were in the summary were: Dost Ali Leghari (Assistant General Manager-Infrastructure), Saeed Khan (Director General, Walton Training Academy), Abdul Hameed Razi (Managing Director, Pakistan Railways Advisory and Consultancy Services-PRACS), Zubair Shafi Ghauri (AGM, Traffic) and Muhammad Tahir (General Manager, Maintenance & Services). However, of the six officers, Saeed Khan, Aijaz Buriro, Dost Ali Leghari and Abdul Hamid Razi were favourites,” the official explained.

The AGMs (infrastructure, mechanical, traffic, M&S), DG (Walton) and MD (PRACS) being senior to Mr Buriro have the option under the law to either seek early retirement or give consent to work under a junior.

According to another official source, Mr Buriro, Mr Razi and Mr Khan were being backed by the minister, federal secretary/PR chairman and secretary to the PM, respectively.

Mr Razi was being supported on the basis of length of his service, as the PR chairman was of the view that the new CEO must be allowed to work for at least two years so that his performance could be assessed.

Similarly, Mr Khan and Mr Leghari were being backed for their seniority, he explained.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2019