GUJAR KHAN, June 2 A team constituted under the directives of the Supreme Court on Tuesday inspected different points of the Mandra-Chakwal railway track that has been lying abandoned for decades and is now being dismantled by a contractor engaged by the Pakistan Railway.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on May 22 took suo motu notice of a press report and constituted a commission headed by Taufiq Asif, the president District Bar Association Rawalpindi to carry out detailed inspection of the track and submit a report by June 5. Raja Haroon Irshad Janjua, president Chakwal District Bar Association, Hassan Raza Pasha, member Punjab Car Council and Raja Mohammad Shahzad Advocate are the members of the commission.

The commission reached Mandra railway station on Tuesday morning and took detailed briefing from Jalaluddin Khan, the divisional superintendent Rawalpindi division. Later, they carried out spot-to-spot inspection of the railway track to prepare a report.

The 75-kilometre-long railway track starting from Mandra and culminating at Bahun in Chakwal was laid during the British era.

The locals of the area used this rail link till 1989 when a passenger train used to shuttle from Chakwal to Rawalpindi in the morning and came back in the evening.

After the railway service was suspended in the late '80s, a federal minister and retired general during the Ziaul Haq era allegedly used his influence and got a vast swath of the railway land in Chakwal on lease while at other posts the land was leased out to the locals through open bidding.

The railway quarters at different stations were either rented to the locals or occupied by gypsies. About two months ago, the railway authorities hired a contractor for dismantling of the track.

The railway authorities present at the spot, when contacted, said equipment from the track were being shifted to check further losses at the hands of thieves.

They said during the previous regime, the then railway minister had taken an initiative for the rehabilitation of the track but the plan was later shelved due to paucity of funds.