LAHORE, Oct 18: Railway employees called off their two-day strike on Tuesday after the Ministry of Finance (MoF) released an ad hoc relief grant of Rs1 billion for their salaries.

The activists of Pakistan Railways Employees (Prem) Union had reached the Loco Shed at 8am to ensure that no locomotive could roll from there. Meanwhile some union workers reached the Divisional Superintendent Office and locked its rooms.

However, railway administration managed to arrange locomotives for Karachi-bound Khyber Mail and Rawalpindi-bound rail car. After three hours or so, the Karachi-bound Fareed Express left the Lahore station followed by Faisalabad-bound Ghauri Express as the union leaders decided to march to the railways headquarters to stage a sit-in there. The union activists were raising slogans against the government and railway administration when their central president Hafiz Salman Butt announced that funds were released and payment of salaries at Karachi had begun.

“All employees will get their salaries in a couple of days and the strike is being called off for the time being. We will again bring operation of all trains to a halt if the salaries are again delayed,” he said.

Later, Mr Butt told newsmen that representatives of all unions of railway had been finalising recommendations for the revivalof railways and the same would soon be forwarded to the government.

Union Senior Vice-President Sheikh Mohammad Anwar urged Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to set up a judicial commission to find causes of railways’ downfall and fix responsibility.

Comprising judges of the Supreme Court, the commission should scrutinise utilisation of funds allocated for the repair and maintenance of locomotives and power vans during the last 12 years to find out embezzlement and leakages in the process.

Rail Mazdoor Ittehad President Sarfaraz Khan said the indifferent attitude of successive governments towards railways had put the safest and most economical mode of transportation for the poor of the country on the verge of collapse.

“People get their seats reserved in advance but are told after reaching railway stations that the train has either been cancelled or will depart after hours. A lack of proper seating arrangements, unavailability of potable water and other facilities at therailway stations aggravate the agony of such commuters in summer. All those who have been instrumental in bringing railways on the verge of collapse deserve no leniency and should be taken to task as soon as possible,” he said.