KARACHI, Dec 13: A fibre optic line is being laid by a private firm along the railway track in contravention of the agreement reached between the firm and the Pakistan Railways, it was reliably learnt on Tuesday.

Well-placed sources in the PR said that an agreement was reached between a private company and the railways about laying a fibre optic line along the railway line between the Drigh and City railway stations.

According to map specifications, the line would be laid 5-ft deep from ground level and 120 yards away from the railway tracks.

The design and specification was approved after physical inspection by the Federal Government Inspector of Railway (FJIR). The map specification was handed over to the Karachi Division office of the department concerned and the original map was kept at the PR headquarters in Lahore.

However, the sources said that the map went missing in Karachi and the work was initiated on a photocopy of the map specification, which showed that the private firm was allowed to lay a fibre optic line along the railway tracks from Drigh Station to Keamari and Wazir Mansion Railway Station.

Work on laying the fibre optic cable was in progress and the line was being laid hardly 2-ft deep from ground level while it was exposed at some places, the sources claimed, adding that laying of any kind of line along the tracks was strictly prohibited according to rules and regulations of the Pakistan Railways. The only line – for train signalling system – was allowed to be laid a few feet away from the tracks, they maintained.

The sources said that the private firm had deposited a fee for laying the line from Drigh Station to City Station, and it had been laying the line up to Wazir Mansion in violation of the agreement causing loss to the PR’s exchequer.

They said that the matter had been brought to the notice of the railway headquarters in Lahore but no action had been taken so far.