ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: The Public Accounts Committee was informed on Tuesday that the Pakistan Railways was facing severe problems because of poor financial management.

Railways secretary Kashif Murtaza, who is PR’s principal accounting officer, informed the committee at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan that the organisation was burdened by a Rs30 billion overdraft drawn from the State Bank of Pakistan.

He said that the railways could not become a profitable entity because its management information system and financial management had become obsolete.

“I have already hired a consultancy firm to reform the entire administrative structure of the railways,” he said.

Mr Murtaza said the railways had so far received only Rs16 million from the Rs6 billion allocated in the budget for the current financial year.

The PAC was also informed that the PR faced irregularities worth Rs500 million on various accounts during 2005-06.

He said that several hundred acres of PR land was in dispute because of a controversy between federal and provincial governments over its ownership.

The PAC was informed that the Rangers had occupied five acres of land worth Rs11 million in Narowal and the matter was brought to the notice of Rangers’ director general and the Railway Board in July 2005 for finalisation of lease, but no action had been taken so far.

The committee asked the railway authorities to involve the interior secretary and Punjab’s revenue officials to settle the dispute within a month.