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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday that the cash-starved Pakistan Railways had recovered in a month over 500 acres out of the total 5,055 acres land occupied by government departments and defence forces.
Railways Chairman Arif Azeem informed a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez that the railways had 127,000 acres of operational land across the country, of which 14,000 had been leased out and 19,000 acres consisted of agricultural and barren lands. The claim was, however, disputed by former railways minister Sheikh Rashid, who said the railways in fact was in possession of 187,000 acres, mostly in Punjab.
The court is hearing a case relating to corruption in the railways.
Mr Azeem said that at a recent meeting with railway officials, the defence authorities had promised that they would pay a rent for 1,200 acres of land being used by them for strategic purposes. An amount of Rs3,000 per acre would be charged for use of agricultural land by defence forces for many years, with back benefits, the railways chairman said, adding that the arrangement would yield Rs11 million.
He said the land on border areas would be given at nominal prices because most of them were either barren or not accessible for security reasons.
Referring to the mushroom growth of katchi abadis on railway land, Mr Azeem said a majority of such dwellings had been regularised after 1998 because steps for shifting people living there would have created a law and order situation.
The court directed the railways to prepare a report about progress so far made, along with a compliance report on the court’s earlier orders.
The court was informed that 78, out of a total 242 passenger trains, were operational, although a number of services on non-profitable routes had been closed down. Seven to eight freight trains are running on a daily basis. Forty-five locomotives are being repaired, 150 have been made operational and 81 sidelined for short-term repair.
TRANSFER: Arif Azeem assured the court that he would try to rescind the transfer of Railways Board Secretary Shafiqullah to other department after the court expressed concern over the decision and said the secretary was assisting the court in a “very satisfactory manner”.
The transfer, the chairman said, was purely an administrative issue, but he would try to withdraw it. The secretary had been taken into confidence before moving a summary about his promotion, Mr Azeem said.
