RAWALPINDI, April 12: Pakistan Railways’ (PR) retired employees have expressed resentment over the eight-fold increase in rental charges for the PR commercial property leased out to them, saying that the unprecedented hike would deprive them of their livelihood.

The PR allotted 10x10 feet plots to its retired employees as well as widows of the deceased workers at Railway Road, Saddar, where the tenants had constructed small shops and kiosks.

Initially, the rent was fixed at Rs800 per annum which was first enhanced to Rs2,000 and then to Rs6,000 last year. The PR authorities have now notified the tenants that the rent has been increased to Rs48,000 per annum.

The tenants say they cannot afford to pay such a huge amount of money for the shops where they run petty businesses. The PR authorities warned the tenants that their kiosks would be rented out in open auction if they failed to pay the revised rental charges.

PR Divisional Superintendent Ashfaq Khattak told this scribe that he had already done a favour to the tenants by not going for an open auction and by fixing the revised rent at 15 per cent of the market rate.